Think leprechauns
are short, green, clever and
benign? They aren’t. “They’re
the vermin of all fairy folk” and,
if abused enough, become hideous,
gray, gold-eating butchers.
Syfy’s suitably campy St. Patrick’s Day fare is set in
Keening, Mass., a rural town to which some Irish folks
emigrated with a leprechaun that they enslaved and
imprisoned in the roots of a huge tree. Our story centers
on a family that includes barfly “Pop” O’Hare (William
Devane), a barfly played by William Devane; son,
Conor, the town sheriff (Billy Zane); and granddaughter
Karen (Courtney Halverson).
While hunting boar in local woods with Pop, Karen
accidentally gets cursed by the hideous beast, which
has extricated itself. It starts slaughtering people in
search of gold, and Karen learns she must kill it in a
very special way or die within four days.
Devane plays it mostly straight, with some requisite
wryness. Zane slow-rides his way through but makes
the most of some classic late horror-show-sheriff dialogue.
Together, they do just enough to help Halveson
overcome some serious lack of Irish luck.
