Leprechaun is a 1993 American comedy horror film written and directed by Mark Jones, and starring Warwick Davis in the title role, with Jennifer Aniston supporting.

Originally intended as straight horror, Davis injected humor into his role, and reshoots added increased gore to appeal to older audiences.

Leprechaun was the first in-house production at Trimark Pictures for theatrical exhibition; it earned a domestic gross of $8.556 million against a budget of roughly $900,000 and became a cult film.

While initial reviews were negative, the commercial success prompted a series of films with a sequel, Leprechaun 2, was released theatrically the following year.

In 1983, Dan O'Grady returns to his home in North Dakota from a trip to his native Ireland, where he has stolen a leprechaun's pot of gold.

Contract workers Nathan Murphy, his 10-year-old brother Alex, and their dim-witted friend Ozzie Jones help re-paint the farmhouse.

After failing to convince the others that he met a leprechaun, Ozzie spots a rainbow and chases it, believing there will be gold at the end.

After ramming the truck with the go-kart, the leprechaun terrorizes the group until Ozzie reveals that he and Alex found the gold.

[2] Novelist Armistead Maupin was aware of the production, and included it in his novel Maybe the Moon, focusing on a little person based on his friend Tamara de Treaux.

Shooting occurred from October 28 - December 3, 1991, beginning at Valencia Studios, where Terminator 2: Judgment Day had recently finished production.

[2] Several scenes had to be re-shot after the producers insisted that the film be made gorier to appeal to older audiences.

Bartalos's early efforts were not to his liking, and he pushed the design in a more grotesque direction, as that was what he wanted to see on the screen as a horror fan.

Davis was conscious of the need to stay relaxed and not move, and he channeled his confidence that the make-up effects were properly applied to his acting.

[6] Leading up to the film's release, Trimark engaged in an aggressive marketing campaign, partnering with the National Basketball Association, American Stock Exchange, and, after failing to secure deals with either corporate headquarters, individual franchisees of Domino's Pizza and Subway.

[22] Internet-based critic James Berardinelli called it "unwatchable" and not even enjoyably bad,[23] and Matt Bourjaily of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the film "has brought new meaning to the term 'bad'".

[24] At the Los Angeles Daily News, Robert Strauss called it "as witless and worthless a horror film as could possibly be conjured".

[26] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times called the cast "the usual all-formula grab-bag",[27] and The Washington Post's Richard Harrington said the human actors are all bland.

[28] Berardinelli described the characters as "a group of morons who act like they flunked kindergarten"[23] but said Aniston "might be competent" in a better film.

[23] Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, critic Jeff Makos unfavorably compared the film's tone to that of Tremors, which he posited as an influence.

[23] Wilmington described it as a "dingy, drab, pointless little movie ... made without flair or imagination, seemingly enervated by its own bad taste and low intentions".

[27] Canby called the screenplay and direction amateurish,[29] and Hicks wrote that Jones is bereft of ideas and should go back to his day job, describing the plot as "by-the-numbers killings with no rhyme or reason".

[28] Strauss identified the theme as anti-greed but said the writing is "simultaneously prosaic and murky", causing Jones to miss his mark.

[25] Wilmington wrote that the leprechaun's cries for his gold reflect the filmmakers' cynical desire for box-office success.

[36] Disagreeing with his colleagues in 1993, Luke Y. Thompson of the New Times opined: "The perfect high-concept comedic slasher, and it's still Jennifer Aniston's best film to date".