Forgotten Horror - DR. GIGGLES (1992)
After escaping from prison and returning to his hometown, a deranged doctor sets about a blood-soaked rampage of vengeance on the citizens in town and forcing one of the locals to find the cause of his rampage before he can finish his work.
Overlooked and lost in an era that gave us countless horror and slasher icons, DR.GIGGLES is a real diamond in the rough. While it suffers some of the usual tropes of this style of movie, the wise-cracking jokes, inventive use of murder weapons and his general presence is just enough to set him apart from the rest.
On a hot august afternoon in New York, while on summer holidays from Ireland I scanned through my aunt and uncles huge movie collection while home alone… HALLOWEEN…DRACULA… and then BAM! I was greeted with these creepy eyes covering half the artwork… DR.GIGGLES. I had never come across this before or even heard of him, but from the moment I laid eyes on this incredible early 90s horror artwork I became obsessed as to what it may be about…who was this doctor? A horror icon I had never heard of?! Surely it couldn’t be.
Weeks had passed until I finally got the courage to pluck this guy from the shelf and press play. From the outset I loved what I saw, you have a fantastic performance by Larry Drake (severely underrated) as the witty Dr. Evan Rendell aka DR.GIGGLES, inventive kills scenes with a wide use of surgical instruments followed by Freddy Krueger like one liners.
Most of the characters we encounter throughout are mere cannon fodder to suffer and get picked off one by one. As a fan of the slasher genre, this movie is a must-watch. The entire vibe here really captures the time it’s set in, from the artwork to the trailer it really ticks all the right boxes.
It’s very surprising that this movie never managed to squeeze even one sequel out, considering we saw countless other characters even travel to space and beyond. DR.GIGGLES delivers his performance with a straight face while at times seeming like he is in on the joke.
All this coupled with an insane laugh and a great small town slasher jingle and we have ourselves a fantastic slasher movie that has been lost in time.
Laughter really is the best medicine …
