Dr. Giggles

Title: Dr. Giggles (1992)
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Starring: Larry Drake, Holly Marie Combs, Richard Bradford
Director: Manny Coto
Duration: 95 mins
Country: USA

“If you think that’s bad, wait ‘til you get my bill!”

In a creepy old house on Tivoli Court, a recently escaped psycho-surgeon, Evan Rendell Jr. aka Dr. Giggles, plots his revenge on the small town of Moorehigh thirty-five years after the citizens murdered his father. That is until he encounters Jen Campbell, a high school girl who, along with stepmother and boyfriend problems, has problems with one of her heart valves. Dr. Giggles sees this as a golden opportunity to continue his father’s legacy and become the first person to perform a heart transplant, and he will let no one get in his way. All the while, veteran police officer Magruder is reliving the nightmare he experienced those thirty-five years ago, leading his new partner along with him as they hunt down the mad doctor.

The 90’s, for the most part, were a pretty slow decade for horror and a pretty uninspired decade for slasher films, with the exception of Candyman, Wishmaster, and this little beauty. To this day, I cannot think of another movie that easily compares with Dr. Giggles, except for maybe Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers. But unlike said comparison, this film’s humor is dealt with much more originally, rather than simply taking the horror-comedy direction just to spoof the slasher subgenre. No, from the get-go Dr. Giggles is a straight horror movie that happens to be chock full of groan-inducing medical puns and witty one-liners. You might say, this film is the most pun you’ll have all year. Drummer, can I get a rimshot? If you’re able to look beyond the instances of bomb but outdated 90’s fashion, you get a timeless dose of campy entertainment. Dose, get it?

Aside from the comicality, this film also scores points in a number of other areas. You might not expect much from most horror-comedies, but Dr. Giggles provides some surprising character depth. Usually in this type of movie, even the heroes are two-dimensional at the most, but here we have some thought put in to the people on the screen which keeps things interesting during repeated viewings. Also, the cinematography of Dr. Giggles is top-notch. The filmmakers show that they have a keen eye for vivid colors and surreal shots, including a visually clever homage to The Exorcist. This subtle detail throughout proves that the film was made for more than just giggles. Giggles, get it?

Enough yadda-yadda-yadda, on to the violence. Dr. Giggles has a lot. According to the Internet Movie Database, the body count is seventeen (almost legal). Each death is unique, with the murder weapons being, of course, medical instruments. We have a sphygmomanometer suffocation, an otoscope lobotomy, and a stomach pump disembowelment, but the nastiest scene features a surreally freaky post-mortem, self-delivered C-section scene that you can’t possibly miss. Needless to say, the deaths are creative, gruesome, and they all end with a killer punch line. Killer, get it?

My only beef I have with Dr. Giggles is that it uses a horrible device to establish the villain’s urban legend status, and that’s the creepy nursery rhyme. It may have worked for A Nightmare On Elm Street, but I find it to be a very lazy and cliché way to immortalize a bad guy. Other than this and a few other flaws I won’t mention, the film is pretty solid. Every now and then it makes its rounds on television where you can catch the small but memorable roles of Patrick Cronin as the police chief and Doug E. Doug as basic teen victim #1, as well as a full 95 minutes of side-splitting gags and medical mayhem.