Red Clover (2012 TV Movie)
9/10
A fun if slightly flawed Sci-Fi Channel effort
26 April 2017
After accidentally awakening a terrifying leprechaun, a teen and her friends try to use the local legends handed down from their family's past to stop its gold-lust rampage from spreading further through their town's inhabitants intending to find the lost gold it originally hid.

This turned out to be quite an enjoyable creature feature that's actually far better than expected. What makes this one so much fun is that this one goes for a rather enjoyable creature feature here which sets this one up with plenty of exciting action here as the confrontations become quite fun. This gives it a rather nice change- of-pace as the film goes through a series of thrilling action scenes along the way here, including the opening attack in the wood where the hunting pair gets separated in the forest and allows for the introduction of the curse that carries this along. Other big scenes come from the attacks on the townspeople out in the forest here resulting in plenty of tense, thrilling shorter action encounters that makes for some generally enjoyable pacing throughout, while the stalking scenes here featuring the creature following her in the house or the encounter out on the road which gives this one some more great times. As well, there's the different extended scenes including the brewery attack on the teens, the later police hunt there that uncovers the survivors while fighting it off, the fun of the attack on the parade where it rips through the crowd and fighting with the officers to get to the creature and the big finale of the confrontation against the creature where they finally get the upper hand over it. While these are wholly fun in their own right, there's another rather impressive feat here in this one really utilizing the story and setting of the holiday to it's fullest that give off a great sense of suspense and atmosphere during these scenes as well as some nice gore scenes from the brutal kills. The other good part here is that it tends to utilize a lot of actual folklore to make it feel a little more realistic, but that factor also leads into the films' downsides. It still has problems in a rather unexplained creature that's so rooted in mythology that it's merely given the name but not much else about it. It's simply identified as such according to the legends but that's all it gets. This one also has far too much reliance on familiar plot lines and storyline points that don't have any impact or feeling behind it. From the town drunk who's actually right, the overprotective father, the lustful old-time friend who saves the day, there's a lot of these elements here which don't really come close to their intended feelings here because they're so cliché and familiar. Still, it's not altogether terrible and manages to get enough right to be really enjoyable.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.
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