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The Scariest Thing About “The Walking Dead” Remains Its Recycled Storytelling

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Despite promises of a game-changing Season 8 finish for “The Walking Dead” last night, the big episode was unable to shake the “been here, seen this” sensation of it all.

Back in February 2015, during the fifth season of “The Walking Dead,” the website Cracked ran an article titled “5 Plotlines The Walking Dead Needs to Stop Repeating.” In the #2 and #1 spots were the following: #2) There Is Always an Ultimate Goal That Never Pays Off and #1) Rick Struggles With His Humanity the Exact Same Way Each Season.

I bring this article up because here we are, over three years after it was published, and the same two storylines are still being beaten into the ground by “The Walking Dead.” In last night’s finale, which promised to wrap up the all-out war storyline, an ultimate goal didn’t really pay off and, wouldn’t ya know it, Rick struggled with his humanity again!

Two years after Negan arrived at the end of Season 6, brutally murdering both Glenn and Abraham and kicking off the all-out war storyline between heroes and Saviors, the battle ended with a whimper last night, with Rick deciding to honor Carl’s wishes and keep Negan alive. Our heroes got the upper hand on the Saviors when Eugene’s handmade bullets proved to be manufactured for the purpose of harming the shooters rather than their targets, allowing for Rick to flex his wrath while also exhibiting his mercy.

Rick slashed Negan’s throat, making sure it was only a flesh wound and instructing his people to keep Negan alive. His plan? Build a prison and house Negan in it for the rest of his days, using him as a shining example of a society being reborn the way it once was; rather than killing the bad seeds, they will be locked up in prisons just like the old days.

Last night, two years worth of storytelling came to a head in an incredibly anti-climatic (and nearly bloodless) fight on a makeshift battlefield, with no major characters losing their lives in the process. In other words, the show provided no real payoff to the Negan vs. Rick battle it spent two entire seasons building towards, setting up a ninth season that is looking mighty familiar to anyone who’s been watching the show since the beginning. We’ve once again found the good guys in a position where they’re going to be mingling side by side with the no-longer-bad-guys (with Negan beaten, they turned insta-pleasant), and we’ve yet again found Rick Grimes in a position where he’s promised himself that killing the bad guys isn’t the best way of dealing with the bad guys.

Shh, don’t tell him that it actually probably is. He’ll have to learn that for himself. Again.

Meanwhile, Daryl showed mercy on Dwight, banishing him from the group, while Morgan walked off into the world of “Fear the Walking Dead.” In the Season 8 finale’s most interesting tease for Season 9, we saw Maggie, Jesus and Daryl plotting to kill Negan themselves, scheming behind Rick’s back to undo his terrible, Carl-inspired decision; of course, even that thread feels immediately familiar, echoing the Shane vs. Rick storyline.

Scott Gimple, who steps down as show-runner beginning with Season 9, has promised that the next season will essentially hit the reboot button, presenting new storylines and overall injecting the long-running series with a bit of freshness. The Season 8 finale didn’t exactly seem to echo that promise, but one thing is certain in the wake of it: “The Walking Dead” *needs* to start doing things differently. As the dwindling ratings of late have suggested, many viewers have grown tired of the same-old, same-old storytelling, and I can’t even imagine myself sticking around for another season of Rick struggling with the very same internal strife he has been since the beginning. Nor can I imagine another season with Negan, who has worn out his welcome, as his foil.

We need new stories. We need new settings. We can’t keep beating the same horse.

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.

Editorials

‘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.

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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.

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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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