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Dr. Giggles [1992] (REGION 1) (NTSC)


Our Price: £5.24 (subject to change)

No apple a day will keep this crazy doctor away
Review date: 2008-06-16 Rating: 8 out of 10

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.

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Reviews


AN ENTERTAINING SLASHER FILM
Review date: 2007-11-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

An insane doctor, Ewan Rendell (Larry Drake) a.k.a. Dr. Giggles, escapes from a mental institution, murdering several doctors along the way. He returns to his hometown of Moorehigh, where his father was also a doctor before he died. Teenager Jennifer (Holly Marie Combs) is having trouble on two fronts: she has an unknown heart condition and her father, Tom (Cliff De young) has just moved his girlfriend Tamara (Michelle Johnson) into their house. On the last day of school, Jennifer and her boyfriend Max (Glenn Quinn) decide to go with some friends to a special make-out party held on a local mountaintop. First, some of the friends decide to go to Rendell's house because of a local legend about him, thinking him to be dead. But Rendell appears and wastes the group. He then turns his attention to Jennifer's family, killing Tamara and attacking Tom. Two police officers, (Keith Diamond) (Richard Bradford) on the case, discover Rendell's operation for removing the hearts of his victims after their dead and race to his house to stop him before he harms the abducted Jennifer and her boyfriend.

The Good News: In the late 80s, horror movies were becoming increasingly more formulaic and almost no originality was used in creating them. `Dr. Giggles' is one of the first one's to start using creativity in the slashers. I thought the fact that we know the killer very early in the film; in fact, it starts out by revealing the killer, was a breath of fresh air in the genre. Larry Drake is one of the creepiest killers in history of slashers. He has a special look about him that lends him very easily to these kinds of roles. I also liked how every one of his victims was killed by a different weapon every time. A different instrument was plunged or stabbed or sliced into every victim. It made you wonder what he was going to use for his next kill. It also added some suspense into the film when you saw the next weapon he was going to use. Due to the different weapons, this film also has a lot of gore. Very badly mangled bodies, instruments protruding from the body and even very messy surgery scenes are all included as part of the gore in the film. Dr. Giggles also had a very unique sense of humor. He had a great joke for every death. All of them are in the Freddy Kruegar area of jokes, making a smart quip about the situation to put down his victim. They were really funny and they will get at least a good chuckle. The part of the movie where they were trapped in the funhouse was the creepiest part. I personally hate those, and any film to use them to good effect is creepy. Not knowing where the real psycho is, what the mirrors distort, and how to get out of them are three great parts that if pulled off well, the scenes become even creepier.

The Bad News: There was only one part of the film that I didn't like, and that was Dr. Giggles' laugh. It was very high-pitched and extremely annoying. In the beginning, it was creepy, but as he did it very often in the film, it just grew annoying. It should've been changed or had some of it removed.

The Final Verdict: A not well-known slasher that is very enjoyable and at times very funny. Worth the time to find, it will please slasher fans of all tastes and gore hounds looking for something new to wet their taste buds until another gore movie comes along.


The Doctor is In(sane)
Review date: 2007-10-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

Once upon a time there lived a friendly small town Doctor who lived with his wife and son, Evan. But when his wife is diagnosed with a deadly heart disease, doc snaps and hurriedly rushes to find a suitable donor for his beloved. Since searching for a donor involves murdering the locals and cutting them open, doc is soon rumpled.
As the mob descends on him, doc manages to conceal young Evan away (sick - Cartman has spoofed this scene in South Park).

Years later a now adult and deranged Evan (Larry Drake `Darkman') escapes from a sanatorium, and heads home to set up his own practice.
After some one liners and kills involving various medical instruments Evan learns of local girl Jennifer (Holly Marie Combs `Charmed'), who suffers from the same heart condition as Evans dear mum did. Evan only wants to save her, but his idea of life saving surgery is basically just ripping her heart out.

From this point on, the film turns into a race against time - who will get to Jennifer first? Her father? Her boyfriend Max (the late Glenn Quinn `Angel')? The police? Or will Evan perform his deadly surgery?



Drake is Giggles
Review date: 2006-03-28 Rating: 8 out of 10

Let's face it, film would be a disaster without mr.Drake. Superb perfomance. A real psycho feeling. He actually tries to "heal" as much people as he can but the result is always messy.
In this particular film I didn't see anyone else acting that good as Larry Drake. Others characters simply didn't have a personality but dr.Giggles was a crazy with attitude.
And Larry Drake should have more attention, sadly years have passed by. Darkman is another from him.
Worth watching for any bloodwork fan and please remember the days when you were 8 years old and you had to go to a doctor and say: "A".

this film is good
Review date: 2006-01-25 Rating: 8 out of 10

this film is good but why is it beening sold at such high prices! i have only seen this film once about 7 years ago on tv late one night! i found this film very funny its well worth the watch. it is a hard film to come by.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Cliff De Young
Keith Diamond
Glenn Quinn
Holly Marie Combs
Larry Drake

Creators:
Larry Drake (Primary Contributor)
Holly Marie Combs (Primary Contributor)
Robert Draper (Cinematographer)
Manny Coto (Writer)
Debra Neil-Fisher (Editor)
Jack Roe (Producer)
Mike Richardson (Producer)
Stuart M. Besser (Producer)
Graeme Whifler (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 0085391159476
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC,
Release date: 2007-09-25
Universal product code (UPC): 085391159476
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 95 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1992-10-23
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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