THE WRAITH (1986)

"Looks like a dork to me."

Despite only having six members, each dumber than the next, a murderous gang of car thieves have free rein to do anything they want in a small Arizona town. The town has police force, led by a useless sheriff (Randy Quaid) who spends all of his time tailing and investigating the gang, but never actually doing anything. It’s weird. Enter into this bizarre small town drama, one Charlie Sheen who rolls into town on his dirt bike and within 45 seconds he’s got Sherilyn Fenn riding on the back. This doesn’t sit too well with the hyper-jealous leader of the car thief gang, Nick Cassavetes, who has the hots for Sherilyn. So much so that he recently murdered Fenn’s boyfriend back when he was a pre-ghost. Huuuumm. And speaking of vengeance-seeking ghosts who drive around in a stealthy ghost whip murdering bad guys…why is Charlie Sheen never around when the ghost whip shows up? Unless, of course, you’re talking about the scene on the movie poster which doesn’t even make sense.

I remember renting this on VHS when it was a New Release, but only watching it a few times and not being super impressed. Revisiting it now though, it’s actually better than I remember. Probably a 5.5 out of 10. Or, maybe I’m just being nostalgic. Steady pace, only explosion kills (yawn), cool 1980’s fashions (I was dying over the waitress’ outfits), non-threatening bad guys (…except for that one dude who sliced his own hand open and wasn't even wearing a bandage in his next scene, dude’s healing powers are off the charts!), a shotgun with blinking red lights on it, two very quick topless glimpses, a few mildly watchable race scenes, boring desert town setting, okay acting but it was fun seeing a younger Charlie Sheen and a pre-Twin Peaks Sherilyn Fenn. I don't know if there's ever been a remake, but I'd love to see one. I know if I wrote the script, it'd have way more scenes at Big Kay's Drive-In!

Post-review thought: If you think about it too much THE WRAITH is kinda like a weird retelling of THE HEAVENLY KID. And PHANTOM OF THE MALL: ERIC’S REVENGE is the same basic story as THE WRAITH, just with a mall instead of cars.

Second thought: I like how the newspaper ads mention music by “Ozzy Osbourne, Honeymoon Suite, Bonnie Tyler, Tim Feehan”, but nothing about Motley Crue, Billy Idol or Robert Palmer.

LEPRECHAUN 2 (1994)

Ahhhh, LEPRECHAUN 2. The number 2 in the title could lead the viewer to believe that LEPRECHAUN 2 is a sequel to the original film, but is it really? In the original, the leprechaun was 600 years old while in this film, he’s celebrating his 2,000th birthday. He was also dumped in a well at the end of Part 1, but in this movie, he is as free and happy as a demented jaybird. And horny. Sequel, reboot or stand-alone film…nobody cares. We just wanna see the leprechaun scamper around acting like an asshole. And scamper around he does. Much more than in the original film. Warwick really commits himself to role. It was awesome. In Part 1 he was stalking some nerds at a farmhouse while looking for his gold, but in this film, he’s balls out running around Los Angeles looking for his gold and a wife! And who would have guessed it, but the leprechaun actually has good taste! The woman he picks to be his desired bride turns out to be one of the better horror movie heroines of the 1990’s.

The story isn’t really important, but like I said earlier, Lep is now in Los Angeles looking for a wife. While in the act of kidnapping his bride-to-be he accidentally loses a coin, so now he has to put the nuptials on hold while he locates the lost gold. It’s all just an excuse to have him running round killing people. Unfortunately, the overall body count is pretty low.

Medium pace, goofy kill scenes (example: a guy thinks he’s putting his face between some tits when he’s really putting his face into a running lawnmower blade), no real blood or gore, one minor topless scene, cheap-looking sets that were kind of charming, random Los Angeles street scenes, JUDGEMENT NIGHT, CLIFFHANGER and SISTER ACT 2 playing in the theater, a brief Clint Howard sighting, GERONIMO advertisement on the side of a bus, okay acting, Disintegration and the Ramones on a jukebox in a bar, zero ninjas, no cheerleaders, low body count, Lep driving a go-cart with “I want me gold” spray painted on the side, extremely abrupt ending.

Closing statement: LEPRECHAUN 2 is a totally stand-alone movie and worth watching for fans of the series and/or fans of silly 1990’s horror movies.

Part 1 - Leprechaun (1993)
Part 3 - Leprechaun 3 (1995)
Part 4 - Leprechaun 4: In Space (1997)
Part 5 - Leprechaun in the Hood (2000)
Part 6 - Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood (2003)
Reboot - Leprechaun: Origins (2014)
Direct sequel to original film - Leprechaun Returns (2018)