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“I fucking love the woman in the painting… it scared the shit out of me.” – Stephen King in an e-mail to Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, after seeing last year’s IT.

We’re now a week removed from the 4K/Blu-ray/DVD release of IT, so there’s a good chance most of you reading this have already checked out the three featurettes and deleted/extended scenes included in the package. The featurettes spotlight the cast of young stars, Bill Skarsgård and Stephen King himself, but they sadly don’t shed any light on the other creature performers who helped make the titular entity so damn terrifying in his big screen debut.

“IT” takes the form of a headless boy and a decaying leper in the new film, the latter form portrayed by the always terrifying Javier Botet. But the form that terrified Stephen King the most was actually a brand new one not present in his novel. Rather, it was taken directly from a nightmarish childhood memory of the film’s director, Andy Muschietti.

At a couple points throughout IT, the entity appears to young Stanley Uris not as Pennywise but rather a flute-playing, unnatural-looking woman who literally emerges from a painting that hangs in the office of Stanley’s father. Stanley is terrified of the painting, and rightfully so, which IT naturally preys upon to a nightmarish extent.

With her elongated, deformed face and eerily vacant eyes, “the woman in the painting” (named Judith in the film’s credits) looks a whole lot like Mama, the titular entity from Muschietti’s previous film – who was, funny enough, played by Javier Botet. That’s because both Mama and Judith were inspired by the paintings of Italian-Jewish artist Amedeo Modigliani.

It’s a literal translation of a very personal childhood fear,” Muschietti recently explained the creation of Judith. “In my house, there was a print of a Modigliani painting that I found terrifying. And the thought of meeting an incarnation of the woman in it would drive me crazy.

He continued, “[Modigliani] often does these portraits with elongated characters. His vision of humans were with elongated necks, crooked faces and empty eyes most of the time. It was so deformed that as a child, you don’t see that as an artist’s style. You see it as a monster.”

So then, how did Muschietti literally bring a Modigliani painting to life? While many fans have criticized Judith for being an entirely CG creation, the character was actually – much like the Leper – played by a real actor. Her name is Tatum Lee, and her unique look landed her the role of one of last year’s most unsettling movie monsters.

What little we know about Tatum Lee is gleaned from her IMDb bio, which appears to have been written by Lee herself – to date, Judith is her first and only on-screen role.

Lee writes, “Tatum Lee is a Canadian actress from Toronto, Ontario. Her love of performing became apparent at a young age while spending time in her Nanna’s costume Shop (Janal Creations). She would try on all the costumes and create a variety of interesting characters for her family’s enjoyment. By her early teens Tatum had been cast in over seven community theatre productions including elementary school plays. It was clear to all that she had caught the acting bug and went to study with Lewis Baumander at the LB Acting Studio.”

The bio continues, “In 2013 she founded Tandum Entertainment with writer, producer Andy Lyberopoulos (Author of the Blood Mile). Together they produced the play “State of Women” with Lee making her directing debut. Tatum is constantly challenging herself and is looking forward to expanding her career in both mediums theatre and film.”

Unfortunately, fans criticizing the CGI in IT do actually have a case in regards to Judith, as Rodeo FX was ultimately brought in to digitally tweak the character and make her appear as unnatural as possible. Syfy noted in an article last year that “[Judith] was originally only going to involve some minor visual effects augmentation, essentially to warp her eyes further apart. Rodeo kept adding to the character to the point that most of [Lee’s] performance was somewhat replaced.”

Nevertheless, it was Tatum Lee who portrayed Judith in the film, aided by CGI or not, and we’re hoping to see a lot more of her in the horror genre in the years to come. After all, when you’ve got what it takes to terrify the master of terror, Stephen King, we’d say you’ve got yourself a bright career in the horror industry!

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

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‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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