Three up and coming rappers (Postmaster P, Stray Bullet, Butch) decide to rob the studio of a record label mogul, but they end up wakening the Leprechaun instead in “Leprechaun In The Hood”. It begins with Ice T’s character “Mack Daddy” and a friend who, will looking for gold, come across the leprechaun who is stone-like thanks to a magical gold chain wrapped around his neck. Mack Daddy takes the leprechaun’s gold and the leprechaun “statue”, and becomes a famous rap producer. Fast forward many years to our main cast of young rappers who are trying to make it big. Their audition for Mack Daddy fails, so they decide to rob him. Of course they end up bringing the Leprechaun to life, creating a lengthy chase around Compton. It’s the leprechaun chasing the young men for his gold back, and Mack Daddy chasing them to get revenge for the robbery in this fifth installment of the Leprechaun series.

Leprechaun in the Hood follows the same rules used in the third film. The gold chain put around the Lep’s neck keeps him captured/stone-like, and the moment it comes off he is able to roam free. I liked that they followed some sort of a timeline, which the fourth Leprechaun failed at doing. We are also introduced to something new in this one – the Leprechaun’s gold flute. The flute (when played) has the ability to temporarily stun other people in the room. It also has the ability to give the person whatever they want. For example, our group of rappers use it to make their listening audience LOVE their music when in reality it wouldn’t have gotten such attention. This Leprechaun does well in that it actually develops the main character’s! We feel for the guys as they are being pursued by the Mack and the evil Leprechaun, something that was missing in Leprechaun 4 and even the 3rd one to an extent. These men are trying to make it big to get out of the poverty stricken neighbourhood, and you feel that depressing undertone a lot in this one.

The acting is alright, Ice-T being the big name of the film doesn’t really have a MAJOR role, but serves his purpose. The three main characters do a decent job with Anthony Montgomery leading the way as good guy Postmaster P. There is quite a fair amount of gore in this one compared to the previous film, and it’s actually well done. Overall, ‘Leprechaun in the Hood’ is an improvement to the space sequel. It punched some life to this franchise, BUT fails to recapture the laughs and campy fun that was found in the first three films. Oh well, at least the Leprechaun is back to rhyming his words after each kill…