While many horror movies attempt to inject humor into the proceedings to appeal to a wider audience, few manage to stick the landing. The Leprechaun franchise is one of the few horror-comedies that lend themselves perfectly to the genre. Indie filmmaker Steven Kostanski created 2018’s Leprechaun Returns as a direct sequel to the original movie in the series. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Kostanski confirmed his enthusiasm for making another film in the franchise.
“Well, I mean, the producer who hired me for Leprechaun was the one that hired me for the [upcoming] Day of the Dead [TV series], so I’ve continued that relationship. But as far as follow-up Leprechaun sequels, I haven’t heard anything, but I would honestly be all over doing it. If it happens, I’d love to do it. I had a lot of fun making that movie, and it was a great experience. It gave me more of an appreciation for the Leprechaun movies. I feel we made something that fits into that mythology nicely, and I think there’s a lot of room to continue it. I haven’t heard anything, but if I was asked to do a follow-up, I’d be into it.”
The first Leprechaun that was released back in 1993 featured Warwick Davis as the titular malevolent Leprechaun. After a man from North Dakota stumbles upon the legendary pot of gold hidden by the Leprechaun, the magical creature tracks the man back to North Dakota in search of his gold, in the process committing a series of gruesome murders.
Later installments in the series grew increasingly more ridiculous, as the camp factor was dialed way up and the movies became more about the comedy than the horror. With Leprechaun Returns, Kostanski attempted to inject a dose of serious horror back into the franchise, and the result was met with acclaim by critics and fans.
While a sequel to Leprechaun Returns might not happen any time soon, Steven Kostanski is set to leave his mark on another reimagining of a beloved horror movie, George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead, which is being reimagined as a ten-episode miniseries by SYFY. Kostanski has directed four episodes of the show, and he promises an ambitious and creative new take on Romero’s classic zombie movie.
“I actually wrapped up working on that back in December; I ended up shooting the first four episodes of the show. So it’s a ten-episode series; it does have ties to the original movie. I can’t go into too many specifics, unfortunately. I’m not really allowed to say much of anything. It was a very scrappy, low-budget affair, and I had a ton of fun making it. We got Masters FX to once again provide creature effects for it. So I can say that, at the very least, the zombies are super awesome. It’s a very weird, interesting show, that I don’t think is what people are going to be expecting. I had a ton of fun making it and really utilized all my low-budget sensibilities to pull it off. It was another case of like, a very ambitious premise, with the bare minimum of resources. And I think that yielded a lot of great creativity from the team.”
Remarks about leprechaun returns arrive from ComicBook.com while the Day of the Dead comments come from Bloody Disgusting.