Leprechaun (1993)

A man returns from Ireland drunk in a limousine with a tiny pouch of gold.  When asked by his wife what's going on, he tells her some cockamamie tale about tricking a leprechaun of his gold, and that they'll be shopping for "mansions" the next day.  Shortly after that, the wife is killed and the man suffers a debilitating stroke in a suspicious Leprechaun-related incident.  Could there be a connection?

LEPRECHAUN is a fun comedy slasher that came out toward the end of a horror wave of nasty but fun slashers, just a couple of years prior to the next massive horror wave, this time of slick and bloodless slashers like SCREAM (1995) and its many imitators.  You'd think that it would be something in between the two, but instead it's a total throwback to the late 80s, complete with a nasty, wise-cracking monster not too dissimilar from Freddy of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

And it's a good throwback, that feels like it was made with an honest love of the genre.  The characters are likeable, there's some fun '90s humor, and the leprechaun is of course now a legendary horror villain who, much like Jason from the Friday the 13th movies, has gone everywhere and done it all, having adventures IN SPACE and IN THE HOOD, and even going BACK 2 THA HOOD for more.

The reason why you watch a horror movie called LEPRECHAUN is to see a leprechaun killing people in inventive ways while cracking jokes, and LEPRECHAUN delivers.  The kills are fun and bloody without being nasty or gory, so it's fun for all ages.  And you will never forget death by pogo stick.