Weekly Schlock and Awesome!

There is Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Herbert West, Dr. Moreau, Dr. Hans Zarkov, Dr. Samuel Loomis, Dr. Zaius, Dr. Clayton Forrester and now……….

Well this was going to happen sooner or later it was going to happen. I decided to revisit Dr. Giggles.

Say it with me children….Dr. Giggles.

I did see this a millennium ago and barley remembered anything save the major plot point; this movie has a kill crazy giggling doctor in it.

Evan Rendell Jr. is the son of a small town, Moorehigh, doctor and his loving wife. Now after mom/wife dies then Dr. Rendell Sr. goes nuts and starts killing townsfolk. Dr.Rendell is stopped and Evan Jr. is eventually found (in a fantastic flashback reveal) and thrown in the looney bind for life. Eventually, Evan Jr. escapes and returns to Moorehigh to his family home. Here he picks up his father’s work. He starts killing his way through the town medically and surgically.

THAT IS NOT HOW THE OTOSCOPE WORKS!

Along the way we meet our heroine, Jennifer, her group of forgettable friends, her father, hotsie-totsie step-mother, some various locals and the always inept and helpful police. Aside from Jennifer, they all serve as fodder like every other slasher movie ever made. The only real plot point besides escaping the killer doctor is that Jennifer has a heart condition. Now the tittering doctor discovers this and decides that he should help her. Why? Well his mother died from a heart condition (or a broken heart as he was told by his crazy laughing father) and he is going to save her. How? Well by cutting the hearts out of all his victims for a quick and easy heart transplant! He is a doctor and patient heath is his primary concern. Duh!

Dr. Giggles isn’t a good movie. It isn’t a bad movie. It falls into my category of good/bad. Yes. Yes it does.

(insert line about keeping hands to yourself)

The antagonist is just full of ridiculous awesome! An escaped looney that fashions himself a doctor. Who in turn reeks bloody surgical revenge on the town that killed his father. For what…yeah killing the townsfolk. (insert Circle of Life song here)

Dr. Giggles is one of those awful, yet likable villains. Larry Dark (the bad guy from Darkman or bit parts in a ton of other stuff) is great as the no-nonsense giggling murderous doctor. His motive for revenge and how he attains it is just absurdly awesome! His dialogue is 95% medical/surgical one-liners, puns and catch phrases. I can see where it would get old for most. He carries an old school doctors bag that is obviously bottomless, since he pulls all manner of medical death devices from it. Dr. Giggles victims meet their demise in a manner that is not really gross and they range from sort of creepy to over the top attempted comical (spiked thermometer, stomach pump death, slashed off junk/femoral artery, and my favorite…giant Band-Aid suffocation). The best part by far is the back story and reveal of young Evan Rendell Jr. and his escape from the family home. This little bit of exposition is fantastic and disturbing on multiple levels. It is easy to see why he was thrown in the booby hatch for all those years.

Well that is not aseptic technique.

As for the characters, they are all just meat. You are supposed to care for Jennifer, but she was fairly bland. Her “friends” all meet their obvious demise in one fun way or another. Like the majority of slashers, I could care less for the group of people that surround the “last girl.” If anything you really want one of them to get a horrible medical from Dr. Giggles. ------ has his special lady alone for some sexy time. He then produces a set of “sexy” lingerie. No big deal….until he mentions he took it from his mom’s dresser. HOLY CRAP SNACKS!  He really said that! How creepy is that? Wanting to get it on with your lady….while she is wearing your mom’s sexy underpants! That freak getting put down is justified.

Dr.Giggles is terrible, but fun terrible. The doctor is always up to something and it keeps the film moving. The majority of the gore is done off screen and this works as it leaves the scene to the imagination. The insane premise, villain, his dialogue and the violence make this a fantastic good/bad horror movie.