Of the duration of about 5 minutes, Gnomes (2022) is the award-winning Dutch horror short film Best Splatter/Gore and Best Special Effects of DarkVeins Horror Fest 2022.
Directed by Ruwan Heggelman (Beste Vrienden, Mime), Gnomes is a film about killer gnomes and boasts, in the crew, the presence of Richard Raaphorst (the director of the sci-fi horror Frankenstein's Army), who produced the film while also editing its screenplay and special effects, the latter in collaboration with Jesse Tamerius and Stephan Vos.
The story features a girl who accidentally wanders into an area inhabited by a tribe of very violent gnomes. Attracted by mysterious glowing mushrooms, the young girl soon regrets ending up in their territory.
In just a few minutes Gnomes tells a concise, no-frills story, relying entirely on the practical effects that make the entire film unforgettable.
After the path with the shiny mushrooms, the viewer is immediately thrown into a spiral of violence and gore but also awe thanks to the little villains (puppets with attention to detail) who give the film a fascinating fairy-tale aura.
Armed with tools of war (all strictly handmade), these gnomes block their victim with skill and ingenious mechanisms, just like the inhabitants of Lilliput in the Gulliver's fantastic travels.
Unlike Jonathan Swift's novel and the film starring Jack Black, however, the hunt for these goblins results in a full-blown bloodbath in which the goal is the ravaging of the human body for a specific use.
Indeed, the ankle blown off by an arrow will be followed by other types of wounds inflicted by scissors or hooks that parade the intestines, causing a bloody and horrible death.
Gnomes is a horror short film that, in its short duration, succeeds in its intent to horrify and amaze, delighting, in particular, lovers of splatter and gore.
In the cast: Moïse Trustfull and Duncan Meijering.
The screenplay is by Ruwan Heggelman, Jasper ten Hoor and Richard Raaphorst.
