10 Syfy Original Horror Movies That Actually Aren't Awful
5. Red Clover
Syfy Air Date: March 17, 2012
Red Clover was also known as Leprechaun’s Revenge for a period, a title that quite accurately sums up the plot of the movie. Director Drew Daywalt’s film stars Billy Zane as the sheriff of Keening, Massachusetts, a town that flat-out refuses to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on account of a massacre that took place on the day many years ago.
The townspeople of the day used a book of ancient magic to trap the killer – a bloodthirsty leprechaun – in the roots of an old oak tree, though when sheriff’s daughter Karen (Courtney Halverson) accidentally frees the creature from his woodland prison on the anniversary of his capture, it falls to her to save the town from a repeat of the massacre.
Not many channel-hoppers will be inspired to stop at Syfy by the prospect of yet another leprechaun horror, though the Red Clover leprechaun isn’t all about one-liners and slapstick-shenanigans like so many of his cinematic counterparts. Daywalt’s monster actually remains monstrous throughout and never wonders too far into parody territory - when it starts to veer, a jaw-bone is ripped off to remind viewers that this little horror isn’t messing about.
Craig McGee from Horror News called Red Clover the leprechaun horror he had been waiting his whole life for, praising the work of screenwriter Anthony C. Ferrante as well of Daywalt’s direction, who paced the film perfectly and kept gore at a premium throughout.