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 If you’re able to look beyond the instances of bomb but outdated 90’s fashion, you get a timeless dose of campy entertainment.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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Female Prisoner: Scorpion

Image
Title: Female Prisoner: Scorpion Rating: 4/5 Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime Starring: Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama, Isao Natsuyagi Director: Shunya Ito Language: Japanese It was the 70s that saw the rise in Japanese grindhouse cinema (also known as ‘Pinky Violence); tired of the very ‘traditional’ style of many local films, and with the rise in success of Hollywood titles such as ‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘The Great Escape,’ a new wave of daring and experimental directors came to light. Armed with a low budget and all the influences of the early Western grindhouse cheap gore flicks, they combined it with traditional Japanese film-making sensibilities to create a style that somehow succeeded in being both artistic in style whilst retaining those cheap traditions such as gratuitous nudity and violence to result in something rather unique. And it was with this, the first instalment in the ‘Female Prisoner’ series, that would influence a wave known as ‘Women in Prison’ films; with a strong the...
Read more

Slasher Hunter

Image
Title: Slasher Hunter (2011) Rating: 3/5 Genre: Horror, Comedy Starring: Chad Phillips, Derek Rothermund, Ryan Sullivan Director: Steve Rudzinski Duration: 35 mins Four pals are planning to have a great weekend of sex and brews in an old cabin in the woods. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “this is the exact set up to every slasher movie from ‘79 to ‘99; this can’t end well.” Well our group of campers have thought of that, that’s why they brought sci-fi nerd Lee along for the ride who carries within him the so-called “survivor gene.” This special gene helps prevent him from being the unfortunate victim of any slasher maniacs that may be lurking about. Unfortunately this gene is also highly coveted by a group of the most dastardly slashers around: Frank, Larry, Jay, Charles, Pleatherface, and Puzzle (I didn’t say their names were very dastardly, did I?). It’s up to a renegade, federally-employed Slasher Hunter to thwart the slashers’ plan and save Lee and his friends before it’...
Read more

Chinese Erotic Ghost Story

Image
Title: Chinese Erotic Ghost Story Original Title: Yuk lui liu chai Genre: Comedy, Exploitation Rating: 2.5/5 Starring: Ben Ko Chu, Chun Chung, Siu Wan Hung Director: Kin-Nam Cho Language: Chinese It's always a little tricky to think how these sort of films should be rated; from the title it's apparent that they aren't perhaps the most creative when it comes to titles, though if nothing else it certainly is an accurate one, with perhaps some mention of how batshit insane the bizarre events of the actual film are being the only thing missing. It all kicks off rather normally; Chu is introduced as the debt collector working for an asshole of a King with a beautiful mistress, two beautiful daughters and an even prettier wife, whilst he's stuck with a woman who sleeps 20 hours a day and spends the remaining four awake eating. Caught in the embrace of one of the King's daughters he's punished with the task of entering Satan's Temple and stealing the statu...
Read more