St Patrick’s Day is a time for everyone to become a little bit Irish – if you are not already – but when it comes to horror fiction, the biggest contribution Irish folklore has made to the genre, rightly or wrongly, is the leprechaun.
A staple of many ancient Irish stories which were passed down orally, the leprechaun is depicted in a number of ways, but generally as a small happy-go-lucky creature who can turn nasty is treated badly. The image of a leprechaun has become something of a stereotype over the years, and is even often seen as a little derogatory to Irish people.
But it seems that the leprechaun’s sinister edge has proved useful to horror writers when it comes to books and movies.
An early example of this is in the 1959 movie Darby O’Gill and the Little People, which was based on the books of Hermione Templeton Kavanagh, which, although a Disney movie, contained some menace and depicted some leprechauns as mischievous and devious.
But the character really came into the horror genre with the Leprechaun movie series of the 1990s. Featuring a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston in a leading role, the movies center around a leprechaun who has had his gold stolen and will go to any ends to get it back. This includes a bloody killing spree with some equally gruesome measures employed to stop him.
There were eight Leprechaun movies as well, but the first two are considered the best of the series and were the only two receive a theatrical release, with the rest either going straight to video or being made for TV.
Discover more gruesome horror fiction with the books from www.ribemedia.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment