You can never fully rely on promotional material to accurately describe a movie or series, but I am pleased to say that the official synopsis for *Gnomes* hits the tone perfectly: "*Gremlins* meets *Hot Fuzz*." This six-episode horror-comedy series indeed captures that unbridled, spirited energy characteristic of the works of Joe Dante and Edgar Wright—the directors of the aforementioned films. It stands out particularly for its atmosphere of barely contained chaos, presented with a knowing wink to the audience but never veering into excessive self-awareness.
It is also—without a doubt—the best television series ever made about murderous garden gnomes awakened by an ancient evil.
Creator: Joel Kohn
Stars: Asa Butterfield, Megan Smart, Darren Gilshenan
In the small town of Nompton, something—to paraphrase a line from another production with a similar tone—strange is happening in the neighborhood. It isn't ghosts, exactly, but garden gnomes coming to life and developing a penchant for stabbing and killing just as the community prepares for the special "Gnome-a-Palooza" festival. Mayor Lachlan Morrison (played by the always entertaining Darren Gilshenan) insists—much like the mayor in *Jaws* back in the day—on keeping the town open, regardless of the risk. Although, in his defense, Morrison isn't entirely aware of the whole "inanimate objects becoming possessed and turning homicidal" situation.
From the very beginning, *Gnomes*—created by Joel Kohn and written by Tegan Higginbotham and Paul F. Verhoeven—possesses that fun, pulp-style tone one expects from a series about a gnome apocalypse. It begins with a prologue paying homage to William Castle-style horror—set in a castle on a dark and stormy night, complete with a one-eyed Nazi—before jumping forward in time to the town of Nompton.
The main characters include veteran officer Arnold Kipps (Asa Butterfield, best known for playing Otis in *Sex Education*) and his colleagues, officers Josie Leeds (Higginbotham) and Devon Raki (Matt Okine). The team has little actual police work to do, aside from attending children's parties and killing time. Authorities have taken note of the situation and sent Kipps’s former partner, Officer Ellie McKay (Megan Smart), to break the news that all but one of them will lose their jobs due to drastic staff cuts.
Naturally, when things take a turn for the worse, everyone has to pitch in; the death of poor Luke McGregor—a DVD shop owner—marks a turning point in the plot. Initially, Morrison informs Kipps that locating the missing "Gnome Queen" is crucial, as the council had spent its entire budget acquiring her from a museum. Later, the search gains importance for another reason: catch the queen, and you stop the swarm.
A group of teenagers (Leigh Lule, George Rayias, Oliver Edis, and Mila Hourmouzis) also lends a hand; their presence reinforces the series' slightly retro tone, evoking 80s horror-comedies (such as *Gremlins*, *The Monster Squad*, or *The Lost Boys*) that typically placed young people at the heart of the action. You have to wait a few episodes for true chaos to break loose, though each chapter runs a dynamic thirty minutes and the series remains entertaining throughout the setup phase—often a litmus test and a sign that the essential elements are working well.
A witty yet somewhat conventional line delivered by Okine at one point ("You don't break the rules; the rules break you") made me wonder if the script might have benefited from punchier one-liners, or if there was ever any thought of including a classic "get off my lawn" gag. The cast manages to maintain a straight face—or something close to it—while acknowledging the absurdity of the situation; Butterfield stands out in particular, navigating the role with just the right amount of feigned bravado—enough to convey that he, too, is in on the joke.
The series features energetic direction—courtesy of Matthias Hoene, Sian Davies, and Kohn—and an aesthetic reminiscent of late-night cult cinema, thanks to the cinematography of Matthew Temple (who also shot *Late Night with the Devil*, the instant classic by Colin and Cameron Cairnes). The team understands that in this type of production, you can be many things—over-the-top, eccentric, and so on—but never boring. This inevitably requires telling a fun story populated by characters you either like or want to see spectacularly dispatched to the great garden in the sky. *Gnomes* pulls this off with boundless enthusiasm and a distinctively pulp style.
*Gnomes* is currently available on Stan (Australia) and arrives on Disney+ (UK) on October 16.
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