Leprechaun 3

After a pawnshop owner resurrects him, the titular Leprechaun terrorizes a Las Vegas casino.

The ostensible plot concerns Scott, a teen passing through Las Vegas on his way to college. A chance encounter with a magician’s assistant played by Lee Armstrong leads him to the fictitious Lucky Shamrock casino. Inside, Scott devolves into a degenerate gambler and loses his twenty-three-thousand dollar college tuition.

Desperate to recoup his losses, Scott heads to pawn his watch. At the pawnshop, he finds a shilling of the Leprechaun’s gold and wishes himself a winning streak. This sets the Leprechaun in pursuit and coins the franchise’s best catch phrase: “I want me shillin’!”

This entry abandons any pretense of placing horror first and leans into the comedy. To its credit, an exploding butt and surprising encephalogram elicited guffaws. And Tom Dugan had me smirking as an eloquent enforcer.

Armstrong also surprised in her role. She conveys a charismatic combination of jaded veteran and aspiring star. Disappointing that she left acting following this production.

While the Vegas setting proves inspired, the location shooting amounts to some second unit photography and a few shots of the Leprechaun crossing the north strip and wandering around Fremont street. If only they’d been able to film inside of O’Sheas.