Dr. Giggles (1992)

No apple a day will keep this crazy doctor away

Remember Larry Drake's Emmy Award-winning portrayal of "Benny," the mentally challenged office worker on L.A. Law? Well, a couple of years before he started winning the hearts of L.A. Law viewers, Larry Drake was busy removing the hearts of the residents of Moorehigh - while they were still alive, no less - as the infamous Dr. Giggles. Now let's just stop for a minute here and talk about this giggling thing. I think all of the maniacal giggling did this movie more harm than good, and I for one would never have released a film with this campy a title. How can you take this movie seriously with a title like Dr. Giggles? It might be different if this were a horror comedy, but it isn't - sure, there are elements of comedy strewn loosely about every so often, but I defy anyone to watch this movie without getting sick and tired of the one-liner overkill that plagues it. I don't have any complaints in the horror department, though, as Dr. Giggles turned out to be a pretty successful slasher film.

Young Evan Rendell always wanted to be a doctor, just like his father. That didn't change just because his father went mad and ended up killing several patients in a futile attempt to save his wife's life. Mrs. Rendell died, Dr. Rendell was killed by a mob, and young Evan disappeared, eventually ending up as a John Doe in a mental institution. As the movie opens, "Dr. Giggles" escapes, not before killing several staff members, and heads toward home to continue his father's work. The old Rendell house, abandoned all these years, gives him access to all the tools of the trade - not to mention a few that he comes up with on his own. His first patients, in the form of dumb teenagers exploring the spooky old house, actually come to him, but his attention focuses on young Jennifer Campbell (a pre-Charmed Holly Marie Combs) when he learns that she has a "broken heart" just like his mother - in Jennifer's case, it's a mitrovalve prolapse. Dr. Giggles is determined to save her, and he certainly has plenty of brand new hearts to choose from by the time he finally gets her under his control.

It's just a bad day all around for poor Jennifer. Her doctor gives her a heart monitor to wear in order to see if she'll need heart surgery to repair her valve; her step-mother is just as annoying as ever; her boyfriend proves to be less than loyal (making for just the kind of excitement she's supposed to avoid) - and now the dangerously schizophrenic son of the man who killed her mother is coming after her, determined to cure her "broken heart" with the most radical of unwanted surgeries.

There's nothing all that scary about this movie, although some might experience a few creeps during a certain morgue scene, and I don't think true gorehounds will find the film excessively gory, either. Still, the body count is most satisfying, all of the victims are killed in the most interesting and unusual of ways, and it's always nice to see a mad killer who cares so much about his work. The writers just go way overboard with the one-liners, really taking something away from an otherwise good ending for this viewer. In the end, the film is just a little bit too gimmicky for its own good - but it's still a pretty darn entertaining slasher film. June 16, 2008

Silly

This is what you would call a "cheesy" horror movie, which I usually like, but for some reason this one just didn't do it for me.

The titular character is a demented doctor who, following his escape from an insane asylum, goes around town killing people with medical instruments. Before each kill, he utters a corny medical-themed line such as "Time to take your medicine". There is one scene, set in the hall of mirrors at a carnival, that is particularly effective, as the bad guy and a couple of the characters chase each other around inside. I guess what turned me off was too many bad jokes, way too much unrealism, and one or two too many "he's dead- oh, wait, he's not" moments.

If you like cheesy slasher type movies with bad humor, you may find this to be just what the doctor ordered (sorry). February 27, 2008

Great B Movie

The story is just silly, but the deadication of Larry Drake to the character of the evil Dr. Giggles saves the film. Completely average in most respects, but good enough for any fan of classic horror flicks to appreciate. If you're a horror buff it's something you should definately watch, however if blood & guts isn't your cup of tea then keep on shopping. February 15, 2008

Is there a doctor in the house?.

Larry Drake stars as the main villain in this great early 90's slasher flick he is an insane and constantly giggling and wisecracking mental patient who recently escaped from an asylum who thinks hes a doctor. He arrives at a nearby town and starts slaughtering some teens, even though the film had some cliches in it I still thought it was pretty cool there is one hilarious scene where he tells one of the cops to have a heart then he literary throws a heart at him, it was funny and gruesome at the same time. There was plenty of great death scenes in this film and the villain's one liners were highly amusing (even though a few were a bit lame). Drake is very well suited for this role cause he does look creepy theres also a morbid flashback where Dr. Giggles as a child cuts his way from his mom's corpse and the death scenes were very creative he uses alot of medical instruments so there is some nice gore scenes, this was definitely one of the best horror films of the early 90's and it was very entertaining in a cheesy sort of way. The film also has Holly Marie Combs as the young teenager who has a heart condition which makes things more difficult but she still manages to defend her self from this maniac as you'll see in the awesome finale which had a great setup, fun and bloody is the best way to describe this film enjoy!. February 7, 2008

DR. GIGGLES

WELL I WOULD HAVE TO SAY AFTER WAITING SO LONG FOR IT TO BE RELEASED ON DVD, I WAS A BIT DISAPPOINTED!!!! THIS WAS A FAV. FOR ME WHEN I WAS A KID. I LAUGHED THE WHOLE MOVIE, IT IS SO CHEESY NOW. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO GOOD HORROR BLOOD KILLING MOVIES???? December 21, 2007

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