by: Dr. Boogie

Though only in a single movie, the titular character of Dr. Giggles is still one of the best horror icons around. Sure, all of his great one-liners were based off things a doctor says, but Larry Drake sold those lines with the perfect amount of self-awareness. And when the script called for him to unleash some scary giggling, he nailed it. Just listen to Dr. Giggles laugh as he performs surgery on himself to remove a bullet. "That smarts," indeed.

The other great thing about the film is that while there is some gore in the movie, the kills themselves don't tend to be all that gory. A good amount is left to the imagination, which is great for creating scares, but bad for making an I-Mockery Horror Moment piece.

There was, however, one moment in particular that manages to capture the spirit of the film, horrifying and delightful all at once:

The moment in question occurs during a flashback. Magruder, a cynical old cop, is reflecting on the event that caused him to stop drinking:

Decades ago, the town rose up as one and slew Dr. Giggles' dad, Evan Rendell Sr., all because he took it upon himself to remove the hearts from seven of his living patients. They're also after the young Doctor himself, but he seems to have slipped away in the confusion. The following day, Magruder is left at the police station to watch over the victims' bodies.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he hears the giggling of a small child. Magruder heads out to investigate.

The sound eventually leads him to the morgue, which is currently filled with all the dead bodies that Rendell Sr. was keeping at his house. It appears the giggling is coming from underneath one of the sheets. Magruder cautiously approaches and removes the sheet:

No sign of any kid. Just the body of Rendell's wife. Magruder breathes a sigh of relief.

Said relief doesn't last long, however...

Some strange bulging starts to occur in the late Mrs. Rendell. Magruder falls back against the wall and looks on in horror:

That's how the young Dr. Giggles escaped his father's mansion, present-day Magruder explains: his father hollowed out his wife and sewed his son up inside her. The sight is too much for Magruder. He passes out and wakes up hours later, the boy gone and his mother sewn back up as if nothing happened. He chooses not to tell anyone because A) It's an incredible story, and B) He was a 20-year-old cop getting drunk on the job. In any case, no one seemed to notice that the corpse in question is now about 80 pounds lighter and has an enormous postmortem suture going up the front of her torso. I'd say a little under-aged drinking is the least of this department's worries.

By the way, that scene ranks among the worst examples of nudity in a film ever.

On a final note, be sure to check out RoG's Dr. Giggles Splattrax play-along audio commentary. It's like having him watching Dr. Giggles over at your house, but without him eating all your candy and asking if he can sleep over.

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