From: sbb@panix.com (The Phantom)
Subject: REVIEW: DR. GIGGLES
Reply-To: sbb@panix.com (The Phantom)
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 15:49:49 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01588
Keywords: author=Phantom

			      DR. GIGGLES
		    A review in the public domain
			    by The Phantom
			   (sbb@panix.com)

     Those of us who came of age during the horror-saturated late
seventies and early eighties will likely appreciate DR. GIGGLES more
than the average horror phan; although many younger phans may well have
seen such genre-killing classics as FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 and HAPPY
BIRTHDAY TO ME, they likely haven't seen any of the original television
and print advertising.  With the television ads for the former enticing
us back to Camp Crystal Lake with a promised body count well into the
twenties (keeping Jason very busy at nearly one killing every four
minutes), and the print ads for HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME featuring a handy
reference list of the inventive ways in which nearly a dozen naughty
teens will be dispatched during the course of the film, it's no wonder
that the modern horror film nearly died out by the end of the eighties.
(Actually, the Phantom has always thought that it wasn't the saturation
of the market with cheaply made, disappointing HALLOWEEN clones; the
rising costs of distribution; the monopolization -- or outright
ownership -- of national theater chains by the major studios; or even
the advent of direct-to-video, the greatest equalizer of them all.  No,
it was just that Hollywood ran out of holidays and collectively couldn't
come up with a new peg on which to hang their horror hats.)

     In fact, DR. GIGGLES has in it a little something for just about
everyone, from phans of the aforementioned "classics" to those who
prefer their horror to be leavened by wit and humor slightly more subtle
than Freddy's.  There are bits and pieces of DEAD RINGERS and JACOB'S
LADDER here, as well as a very generous dose of FRIDAY THE 13TH.  In
this way, DR. GIGGLES is really a throwback to those glorious days of
yesteryear (yesteryear being about a decade ago in this case) when
maniacs roamed America's small towns and camp sites.  Though it features
up-to-date production values, good direction and editing, and a solid
performance by Larry Drake as a doctor who makes most unwelcome house
calls, DR. GIGGLES is little more than a rehashed version of HALLOWEEN,
less spooky and less serious, and of course without the ability to
startle an audience with the feeling that even their own well-lit homes
might not be safe from the boogeyman (those fears having been conquered
around the time Freddy got his own television show and horror came out
of the genre closet and into the mainstream for the first time since the
fifties).

     But how refreshing to watch a horror film that has no other agenda
-- one that doesn't toss a half dozen half-baked ideas into the mix in
the hope that phans might be distracted from its poorly conceived
screenplay, portentous art direction, or cheesy computer graphics.
After all, horror should be horror first and foremost; lectures on the
evils of the atomic bomb or the effect of civilization on giant iguanas
who were minding their own business until *we* came along are best left
for the film's closing scenes, allowing the audience to eat its cake and
have it, too.  We are gratefully spared such distractions in DR.
GIGGLES, which is easily the most straight-ahead horror offering in
months; it is, in fact, so single-minded in its purpose that the Phantom
was nearly overcome by a wave of fond nostalgia for the days when he
could pick and choose from dozens of new theatrical horror releases, all
of which had the same plot (maniac kills campers/hikers/babysitters,
then is killed by Jamie Lee Curtis or suitable stand-in) and all of
which were, for the most part, greatly entertaining, filled as they were
with a becalming and reassuring simple-mindedness that said to the
audience: I'm going to let you watch while three witless teenaged
campers are killed every ten minutes and the heck with rational
explanation, character development or plot exposition.  Horror films,
like action films, work best when they rid themselves of distractions
and get down to business as quickly as possible; and after watching the
opening scene in DR. GIGGLES, the Phantom knew he was in for a virtual
non-stop retrograde treat.  By the time the closing credits rolled, the
Phantom was pleased to find that the good doctor did not disappoint.

     Much of the success of DR. GIGGLES is due to the performance of
the actor portraying this slightly unstable medical practitioner; Larry
Drake, a man who here seems to be trying to keep his excellent portrayal
of Benny on the hit television show LA Law at more than arm's length,
brings real acting skills to the roll, and so makes the disturbed doctor
a little more three-dimensional than phans might initially expect.  Oh
sure, there are the usual Freddy one-liners, but there's also something
more, something darker here that we haven't seen in horror films in a
while.  That dark side comes and goes -- and by the end of the film, it
is, alas, pretty much gone -- but it's there all the same, and it goes a
long way toward differentiating DR. GIGGLES from any of the last few
Freddy, Michael, or Jason sequels.  Every so often we see real malice
surface in this film, knocking the manhole cover right off the
homogenized horror that we've come to expect and crawling out into the
screenplay as it gives us a wink and a flash of its razor-sharp teeth.
For all its special-effects- bloated, inept gore, HELLRAISER III never
gave us a glimpse of this particular beast -- that feeling that bad
things may happen and even worse, we might not be able to predict just
what -- but once in a while we do get that feeling from DR. GIGGLES.
Don't let the revised previews fool you, phans: those of you who saw the
original previews -- the ones that featured little more than a heart
monitor, some scary-looking surgical instruments, and Larry Drake's
voice -- know what lies buried beneath the mainstream gloss and
Freddy-inspired wisecracks.  That preview never once failed to cause
nervous laughter and audible sighs of relief when it ended; and while it
played on screen, rapt attention was the rule, even in the most unruly
of audiences.  (By way of contrast, the previews for Coppola's upcoming
DRACULA seem not to make much of an impression on people; though it may
mean nothing, it's possible that DRACULA might well be the very good,
very mainstream, and very unscary film the Phantom fears it will be.)

     The story itself is as simple as it is familiar: take some
teenagers, a spooky old house, a Smallville, U.S.A.  setting; throw in a
carnival (with requisite House of Mirrors), some inept cops and a
shameful, long-buried town secret; sprinkle with spring-loaded cats to
keep the audience on its collective toes, and never keep the good doctor
off screen for more than a few minutes.  The result won't win any
academy awards, though it's more than serviceable enough for a little
under two hours of scary fun.  Added to the mix -- and perhaps the
film's most important element of horror -- is the medical twist on an
old familiar story.  Even before Dr.  Giggles gives us a glimpse of his
DEAD RINGERS-inspired surgical instruments, the film itself is given a
big boost by playing on our very real (though usually quite deeply
buried) fear of doctors and hospitals -- people and places inextricably
linked to feelings of powerlessness and primal fears of pain and death.
MARATHON MAN featured one of the most exquisite scenes of horror in a
mainstream film, as Laurence Olivier tortured Dustin Hoffman with a
dentist's drill; the scene was, for many people, nearly unwatchable.
Yet these same people might not be the least bit squeamish watching
Jason dispatch an unwary teen with an axe; so why should the famous "Is
it safe?"  scene cause so many white knuckles?  The answer is that while
few of us can imagine being an empty-headed teen camper exploring a dark
cabin and getting slaughtered by a man in a hockey mask, we can all too
well put ourselves in Dustin Hoffman's place -- we've all been in that
chair, in just that position, and with just such an instrument in our
mouths.  While the comic-book gore of the FRIDAY THE 13TH series helps
us stay a safe distance from death, that scene in MARATHON MAN invited
us to sit right down with it and stay a while.

     Although DR. GIGGLES never once gets quite that intense, the film
works as well as it does because the doctor represents a very real link
between our safe, rational world and a world where we are very much not
in control.  It's possible that the filmmakers at one point wanted to
take DR. GIGGLES further in that direction but were redirected by focus
groups and the studio executives who are guided by them -- such dark,
disturbing films tend not to do very well at the box office, no matter
how well made and effective they are.  Witness David Cronenberg's
excellent film DEAD RINGERS, which in a just world would have garnered
Jeremy Irons an Oscar, but in actuality gave everyone who saw it the
creeps and won only grudging praise from the mainstream press.  (It, and
much of Cronenberg's other work, remain among the best horror films ever
made.)

     But even in its watered-down form, that little glimpse of
razor-sharp teeth keeps DR. GIGGLES both interesting and intense for
much of its running length; when either lags, we're saved by Larry
Drake's performance, and by his ability to retain a certain measure of
dignity no matter how silly the proceedings get.  And for you ELM STREET
phans, that giggle and some of the oldest jokes in the world -- jokes
that would make Groucho proud -- don't hurt in the least.

     It's neither serious, historically accurate, nor sociologically
correct, but DR. GIGGLES does what few horror films recently have been
able to do: it tells a simple story; it tells it well and clearly; and
it ends with at least a modicum of integrity.  And in these days of
overblown or half-baked horror, that counts for a lot.  Bring on the
roving bands of Smallville maniacs -- never has early eighties horror
looked so good.

: The Phantom
: sbb@panix.com
: cmcl2!panix!sbb

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