For one horror scream queen, the scream doesn’t stop on St. Patrick’s Day, reflecting on her experience watching the Leprechaun series.
As the Irish holiday draws near, Zenger News had the pleasure of speaking with Natalie Popovich, alias Ivonna Cadaver, who took the time to share her thoughts on the top Leprechaun film series.
Who is Natalie Popovich? She is also known as by her stage name, Ivonna Cadaver, whom her audience knows from Macabre Theatre from the YTA Network, had made most of her career in the horror movie sector.
Popovich first started her career at the age of 7-years-old where she worked in commercials, which was a step in the door for her in the film industry. Most of her work was done outside of California.
As her career was progressing from 18-years-of age, Popovich attended the Huntington Film Institute in New York.
Popovich was heavily involved in the fitness industry as a spokesperson for Powerhouse Gym International as a spokesperson doing both shows and events. At the time, she had been approached talent managers who wanted to present her, which she was seen as a marketing whiz-kit.
She went on to create Macabre Theatre in 2002 where she created Ivonna Cadaver, which she is also the executive producer. The show had produced 63 episodes including 1-hour Halloween specials. After 2018, it’s still a real testament and how the audience accepted the character.
The Macabre Theatre executive producer will be hosting Monsterpalooza in June taking place in Pasadena, California.
As For Popovich’s ranks in the Leprechaun series. It all starts with her opinion ranking from the best to the worst movie.
Best of the Leprechaun series was the first movie made in 1993, “Leprechaun”. It’s a classic monster movie that gave Chuck a run for its money. It was one of Jennifer Aniston’s movies she made the year along with Mark Holton before her sitcom Friends was on TV. It may be the campiest franchise of all time. The acting could have been better. A hilarious shoe-shining scene, ridiculous one-liner, memorable death scenes all in one cool location. Jennifer Aniston had the best performance for this film.
“To me this was the best one because it did have Jennifer Aniston in it. If there was Leprechaun trophy, you’re probably going to find it in this movie,” Popovich said in her opinion.
The second best was “Leprechaun 3”, a fresh setoff new characters, it’s nasty, it’s cheaper, and it’s set in Las Vegas. In an ideal atmosphere, it had great one lines. This is where Caroline Williams was at her best that peaked for the Leprechaun films. Had this film invested more in a bigger budget and much better shots, it could have done better.
“I love the one-liner, and I love that it was funny and cheap. We have Carolyn Williams. It was one of the peaks of the Leprechaun films,” said Popovich.
“Leprechaun in the Hood” was a fun change of pace. May not be in character and may be too campy, but Ice-T was at his finest moments. The best part was pulling a switchblade and baseball bat out of his afro defined the moment for this film.
“With Ice-T, what you see is what you get. He’s really a good actor,” she said in her opinion of the film. “It was fun change of pace.”
The next rank line for “Leprechaun 4” is where Leprechaun goes sci-fi before the sci-fi channel claiming his new ownership. Warwick Davis was funny and took it seriously. “Leprechaun 4” was the most serious. This is where Leprechaun is now kidnapping princesses and wanting to reign supreme. The “Big Is Good” scene is where Leprechaun grows, is the most memorable.
“I think Warwick Davis did a pretty good job. He also took it very seriously,” Popovich said about Davis’ acting.
For next series, “Leprechaun 2” opens in up in Ireland and ends up in California as the attempt to finding a human bride. It made the movie interesting, could have followed up more on the backstory of Leprechaun. This is where Warwick Davis shined, but the support actors could have done better. That would have been a fun follow up.
“The best thing I think that it opens up in Ireland and you get that folklore.” Said Popovich. “And then he ends up in California, which I thought was really cool.”
For “Leprechaun Returns,” Warwick Davis is not the Leprechaun for this movie, but is replaced by Linden Porco. He did a fine job, but “Ozzie” played by Mark Holton returned to the series. He is quite a treat in this and a great connection to the first one. Environmental sorority girls and nostalgia make this more than enjoyable. The movie returns to the same house from the original and the gore is great but could be the bloodiest of the series. It didn’t feel the same without Warwick Davis. The movie could have been better with his return as the Leprechaun.
“They took a stab in this movie that was made for TV gore,” said the Macabre Theatre creator. “Warwick wasn’t in it, but the new Leprechaun did a good job.”
This may not appeal to a lot of the Leprechaun fans, but “Leprechaun Back Tha 2 Hood” was boring and too generic. It didn’t look like it had much of a bigger budget but would have been better if it did. There was nothing funny about this movie. This is the laziest one in the whole series.
“It was pretty generic and boring,” said Popovich. “Ivonna is not happy her Leprechaun getting knocked down a few notches.”
The least of movie favorites by Ivonna Cadaver goes to “Leprechaun Origins.” Wrestling fans will love WWE’s “Hornswoggle” as Leprechaun, but a bigger budget and even being set in Ireland can’t save this movie. The feel of this movie doesn’t feel connected to the franchise at all.
At most, it’s an ok monster movie, but hilarious that they tried to make the Leprechaun monster into a series type. It’s sad how the kill scenes and blood are being hidden, but it doesn’t feel like a horror movie. This would rank higher on an “Irish Horror List,” but as far as the Leprechaun series is concerned, it’s the worst of the bunch.
“It could have been better if it had a better connection to the franchise since it had a setting in Ireland,” Popovich said.
