Dr. Giggles

Not that bad of a schlock 90's slasher. A good way to 'kill' a couple of hours. Larry Drake of 'Darkman' fame, plays the title role and he's great. The rest of the cast features the usual bunch of teenagers. If you like gore and a ton of one liners, this film is for you. The kills are as creative as anything that used to be done in the Friday the 13th series. Some creative set pieces, including a unique chase through a fun house filled with mirrors. Some good creativity here and there amongst some not so great film-making. No horror masterpiece, just some good fun.

Watch this film and call me in the morning. Doctor's orders.

I rented this movie one night from the B-list video store in town, more or less for lack of anything else to do. I expected it to be really lame, and boring, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite good.

A mental patient who believes that he is a doctor escapes the psych- ward, and returns to wreak murderous havoc on the town that he escaped from as a child after the "townsfolk" stoned his demented physician father to death.

Typical of the horror genre, there is the young, innocent heroine, who saves the day, and her not-so-innocent friends who aren't so lucky.

What sets this film apart is that it is original and creative, considering it came out before the Scream flicks. There are some really good, unusual death scenes. Not gory, but unique. It is also very creepy, and it moves fast, and never really drags. Holly Marie Combs is very good in this movie, and you actually care what happens to her character.

Bottom Line: A fun, humorous, creepy film to watch.

I believe every medical/doctor related cliche found its way into this movie. Is there a doctor in the house? Take two and call me in the morning. A house call crack. And the list goes on and on and on and on. Dr. Giggles opens with a doctor/slash real mental patient performing a heart removal in front of a host of crazies. Soon he finds his way back to his old town and house, still intact underneath the facade of decay where his father once practiced medicine but some terrible thing happened. Naturally a group of teenagers out to have fun go in the condemned house at just that time. No big surprise what happens. Larry Drake plays the lead role, and although he is working with rubbish really, I thought his obvious zeal for the part was interesting to say the least. Make no mistake here, Dr. Giggles is a routine-routine slasher film from the late seventies/early eighties vein. A sick individual traumatized from something in his past goes back to the scene of the crime so to speak, where he can exact revenge on all those that had something or nothing to do with him and his tragedy. What separates the film for me a bit is that it has a darkly humorous side - we really are not meant to take anything serious at all - and yet is very mean-spirited with the hyperbolic death rate. Roughly 15-20 people are savagely killed on-screen or off. We have death by blood pressure cuff, death by humongous stainless steel surgical instruments, suffocation from a big bandage(?), poisoning, needle injection, some kind of spinning drill that takes a woman's breath away literally, and so on and on and on and on. For me it was just too much callousness. The ending is also more than far-fetched. It is plum ridiculous! As for the rest of the cast, well, certainly this was not a huge stepping stone to great things to come. Holly Marie Combs; however, did a decent job and has faired relatively well. Some familiar faces minus notable names are thrown in as well.

A cable tv favorite of mine when I was a young kid this is campy as all hell and at times feels like an overlong episode of Tales from the Crypt which makes sense considering the director did helm an episode of that series. Larry Drake's over-the-top performance is what makes this really worth the watch, that some fun kills and some hilarious early 90s looking teens. Would make a good double feature or triple feature with Brian Yuzna's The Dentist movies as it's about the same quality.

The stage curtains open ...

"Dr. Giggles", starring Larry Drake as the psychopathic doctor, is a fun throwback to the classic monster movies of yesteryear with a modern twist. It is clearly over-the-top and doesn't take itself too seriously with campy horror comedy that might even make you omit a giggle or two. Larry Drake was the obvious choice for the infamous doctor, delivering the perfect performance for such a dubious role.

Set against a modern day town with your usual group of teenagers, Dr. Ev.an Rendell, who is our Dr. Giggles, because of his propensity for giggling, has managed to escape an insane asylum and return home. He blames the town for the death of his mother and father, therefore, it needs his special brand of healing. While he gets re-established in his abandoned family home, we follow along with Jennifer, a teen girl, who is dealing with her new step-mother and a health condition. And, as you have guessed, their two paths invariably cross leading to the film's ultimate climactic conclusion.

If you like your horror movies to be serious, dark, ominous and unforgiving, then this movie is not for you. With Dr. Giggles spouting every known one-liner from the medical field or associated with doctors, this is as campy and comedic as they come. This is an absent minded film where all you have to do is check in, sit back and enjoy for 96 minutes. It won't blow you away, but it is entertaining. I saw it when it first came out back in 1992, and I have it in my own personal collection now as well.

I would recommend "Dr. Giggles" at a solid 7 stars out of 10. I don't know if this was ever intended on being a franchise, but even so, as a standalone movie, it delivers what it sets out to do. Don't expect too much, just expect to hear a lot of screaming and giggling.