The two central performances in Blood Gnome (2002) are really quite well done in the boy-meets-girl mode. The fact that the girl is into s/m does not in any way mean she's crazy or monstrous. Despite the B-horror context, their relationship is more genuinely romantic than sexploitive.
The hero & heroine are charming characters easy to root for. The plot revolves around dimensional blood-drinking hideous little gnomes which attack sadomasochistic couples. In spite of this sexploitative theme, the film is one of the more sensitive treatments of consensual s/m I've ever seen in any film, big budget or small.
The gnomes themselves are creepy & intriguing monsters, though how the "bad" dominatrix is connected with them is never adequately explained; she speaks of "us" gnomes as though she thinks she's one too, but the Mother of Gnomes is a different monster altogether.
I enjoyed this film, & even the parts of it that could've been better have this "guerilla filmmaking" quality showing that with limited resources, everybody involved were trying to deliver a satisfying film.
Would it qualify as a classic of sleazy horror? Not quite. But it succeeded at being a pretty darned good horror feature centering around convincing characters. And the presence of likeable convincing characters puts it miles above "average" b-horror.
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
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