When it comes right down to it, the slick, stylish "Dr. Giggles" is really no more than your usual 80s style teen-oriented slasher, with a gimmick. The good news is that it's mostly done in a strong tongue-in-cheek manner, with its villains' dialogue often consisting of clichéd lines associated with doctors. It does get serious at some points, but never too serious, and damn if it doesn't deliver some enjoyable kills and one hell of a great "I gotta rewind that and watch it again" money shot.
Evan Rendell, Jr. (Larry Drake) is a demented "physician" determined to get revenge on the citizens of the town of Moorehigh, on behalf of his dearly departed dad, a doctor who'd similarly gone crazy. Now he's out to perform all sorts of unauthorized surgery. When he discovers that a potential victim, Jennifer Campbell (Holly Marie Combs of 'Charmed'), has a heart condition, he takes pity on her, and because he does consider himself a doctor, changes the theme of his murder spree to supposedly help her out.
Nicely shot (by Robert Draper) and effectively paced, "Dr. Giggles" (so named because of Evan Jr.'s nervous habit) makes the most out of its medical theme with its merry antagonist utilizing all sorts of doctors' tools to off his mostly unsympathetic, typical slasher movie type victims. And Evan always has just the right quip for every occasion. However, one of the brightest moments doesn't involve a kill, but rather Evan examining a glassy eyed little boy as he monotonously obsesses over a video game; his subsequent line is priceless. And that aforementioned money shot, when it's shown how Evan Sr. smuggled his son out of the family house, is wonderfully creepy / cool stuff. The KNB group supply the excellent gore.
The under-rated Drake is hilarious; he delivers his one-liners perfectly and clearly can play insane very well. The lovely Combs is very appealing and the supporting cast features a bunch of well chosen, familiar faces: Cliff DeYoung as Jennifer's father, Michelle Johnson as the father's girlfriend, Richard Bradford as a veteran cop, and Nancy Fish as a nosey neighbour. The late Glenn Quinn plays Jennifer's boyfriend and Keith Diamond is great as the ultimately heroic Officer Joe Reitz.
The final portion of the movie is a little too predictable, with more than one ending, but that had already come to be a standard aspect to the slasher film. Taking everything into consideration, die hard fans of the sub genre should be amused.
Seven out of 10.
Evan Rendell, Jr. (Larry Drake) is a demented "physician" determined to get revenge on the citizens of the town of Moorehigh, on behalf of his dearly departed dad, a doctor who'd similarly gone crazy. Now he's out to perform all sorts of unauthorized surgery. When he discovers that a potential victim, Jennifer Campbell (Holly Marie Combs of 'Charmed'), has a heart condition, he takes pity on her, and because he does consider himself a doctor, changes the theme of his murder spree to supposedly help her out.
Nicely shot (by Robert Draper) and effectively paced, "Dr. Giggles" (so named because of Evan Jr.'s nervous habit) makes the most out of its medical theme with its merry antagonist utilizing all sorts of doctors' tools to off his mostly unsympathetic, typical slasher movie type victims. And Evan always has just the right quip for every occasion. However, one of the brightest moments doesn't involve a kill, but rather Evan examining a glassy eyed little boy as he monotonously obsesses over a video game; his subsequent line is priceless. And that aforementioned money shot, when it's shown how Evan Sr. smuggled his son out of the family house, is wonderfully creepy / cool stuff. The KNB group supply the excellent gore.
The under-rated Drake is hilarious; he delivers his one-liners perfectly and clearly can play insane very well. The lovely Combs is very appealing and the supporting cast features a bunch of well chosen, familiar faces: Cliff DeYoung as Jennifer's father, Michelle Johnson as the father's girlfriend, Richard Bradford as a veteran cop, and Nancy Fish as a nosey neighbour. The late Glenn Quinn plays Jennifer's boyfriend and Keith Diamond is great as the ultimately heroic Officer Joe Reitz.
The final portion of the movie is a little too predictable, with more than one ending, but that had already come to be a standard aspect to the slasher film. Taking everything into consideration, die hard fans of the sub genre should be amused.
Seven out of 10.