By Robert Scucci
| Published 31 seconds ago

Movies like Dr. Giggles aren’t meant to be taken seriously, and I’ll point out one tell you may not have noticed that drives this point home. The movie is called Dr. Giggles. Comedy slashers of the ’90s are something special because their self-awareness is what often drives the humor, and this film is no exception. From its over-the-top usage of one-liners to its clever kills carried out through the inappropriate use of various medical implements, Dr. Giggles is an absolute riot from start to finish that will have you busting a gut with laughter.

Deranged Doctor’s Revenge

Before we get to the blood and guts, I need to quickly establish the premise for Dr Giggles, but it won’t take long. The deranged son of a murderous doctor named Evan Rendell returns to his hometown to exact revenge against those who killed his father after being locked up in an insane asylum for 35 years. Dr. Evan Rendell Jr, or Dr. Giggles as he is more affectionately known, wants to finish his father’s work by cutting the hearts out of his soon-to-be victims.

Dr. Evan Rendell Senior cut out his victims’ hearts before his death so he could find a replacement heart that could help him resurrect his dead wife. Dr. Giggles, on the other hand, just wants to kill his victims for the love of the game. However, Jennifer Campbell (Holly Marie Combs) becomes a victim of interest because she’s wearing a heart monitor, indicating to the deranged doctor that she’s afflicted with an illness not unlike his deceased mother’s.

Punning Psychopath

The above rundown is basically all you need to know about Dr. Giggles, and for me to tell you why this movie is such an effective horror comedy. The titular doctor, portrayed by Larry Drake, is an unhinged psychopath who speaks almost exclusively in puns as if he were a doctor with a questionable bedside manner.

Belting out one-liners like “leave it in for at least a minute” after impaling one of his victim’s heads with a thermometer, and “if you think that’s bad, wait until you get my bill,” it goes without question that Drake thoroughly enjoyed himself while seemingly ad-libbing his way through his HMO-violating rampage.

Everybody Understands The Assignment

Dr. Giggles‘ premise is further elevated by the fact that every other character in this movie pretty much plays it straight. As far as victim behavior goes, you might as well be watching a serious slasher like Halloween, but they’re running from … this guy. Imagine running from a serial killer who you think is going to stab you to death only for him to violently pump your stomach because he thought you ate too much ice cream, and wanted to remind you to cut down on your sugar intake.

The tonal juxtaposition between a slash-happy sociopath and his slaughtered subjects makes for a great watch because the gore is offset by fearless levels of campiness. In other words, Dr Giggles is not a serious slasher, but it plays out like one, which only adds to its entertainment value.

If you want to see a feature length horror comedy that resembles something you’d see in an episode of Tales from the Crypt, then Dr. Giggles should be your next watch. Just make sure you’re up to date on your life insurance policy because you may die of laughter.

As of this writing, Dr. Giggles is streaming for free on Tubi, YouTube, Xumo Play, Pluto TV, Amazon Prime Video, and The Roku Channel.

By Jason Collins
| Published 2 days ago

Here’s an unpopular opinion: there haven’t been that many good horror movies in the past 20 years since the genre was reduced to action scenes combined with jump scares and loud audio mixes. They all follow the same formula and feature nebulous elements, such as demonic nuns or killer dolls (this statement excludes the Child’s Play franchise.) However, there have been a few movies that have been worth revisiting since their release, and Pandorum is definitely one of those movies.

Cannibals, INNNN SPACEEEEE!

Pandorum follows the story of the remnants of the human race who, following the depletion of Earth’s resources due to human overpopulation, board an interstellar ark, which embarks on a 123-year trip to colonize a different Earth-like planet. Its passengers are placed in hypersleep, and a rotating crew of techs and engineers wake up biennially to maintain the ship. However, not everything went according to plan, and sometime later, two members of the flight crew, Bower (Ben Foster) and Payton (Dennis Quaid), awakened.

The improper emergence from hypersleep leaves them with partial amnesia and Pandorum, a space-related disorder that causes psychosis when under stress. They also find the interstellar arc in a horrific condition; their journey still lasts, but the unstable nuclear reactor is causing power surges throughout the spaceship, which Bower sets out to find. But instead of a faulty reactor, he finds cannibalistic space mutants he now has to evade while attempting to reset the reactor and restore normal power to the ship.

A Psychological Thriller Wrapped In Sci-Fi Horror

As it turns out, the cannibalistic space mutants have been on board for quite some time, hunting several crew members who had been awake for some time as well; some of whom have also developed the Pandorum disorder. By the film’s end, several plot twists occur, keeping the viewers at the edge of their seats, as the horrifying facts about the ark, its inhabitants, and the mutants begin to reveal themselves, after which a fight for survival ensues.

We won’t spoil Pandorum for any of our readers, but we’ll state that the script, which is actually an amalgamation of two separate but similar works, is good, with a good introduction to the story. The screenplay is also masterfully done, while the whole narrative immerses the viewers in exploring the ship and its history along with the protagonists. The downside is that certain characters could have been developed better.

The special effects were impressive, but they weren’t enough to save Pandorum from a disappointing theatrical run. Despite a reported $33 million production budget, the film earned only about $20 million worldwide. We usually argue that the box office says a lot about a movie’s quality, but there are always exceptions. Pandorum is one of them. Its ambitious ideas and gripping premise deserved a much better reception, even if the execution doesn’t always live up to the script’s potential.

Despite its sci-fi setting, Pandorum is first and foremost a psychological survival horror film. It explores isolation, madness, memory, and identity while forcing its characters to confront the collapse of civilization into pure anarchy. It’s a tense, unsettling experience that uses its futuristic backdrop to amplify the horror rather than overshadow it.

Furthermore, its ending promised a sequel, which was most likely scrapped following the film’s poor performance at the box office. Those interested in watching Pandorum can stream the movie for free on Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and Amazon Prime Video.

The iPhone 18 is about to launch, along with the final version of its operating system, iOS 27, most likely in September. But a new report says it may arrive with a feature that lets Apple, and third-party lenders, remotely deactivate phones if customers fall behind on payments.

With the iOS 27 beta now widely available, 9to5Mac found code that would let Apple place delinquent iPhones in “Restricted Mode.” This would limit users to a short list of widgets and apps, including the App Store, Clock, Settings, Wallet, and Passwords, according to the report.

In theory, 9to5Mac says the system could work like this: Authorized financing partners who lease iPhones to customers get to perform regular status checks to see if the contract is still valid. If a customer falls behind, Restricted Mode would be activated.

The feature is “unequivocally present” in the iOS 27 beta, according to 9to5Mac — and a future update to iOS 26 could bring this feature to older iPhones as well.

The era of internet-connected “smart” devices has had plenty of benefits for consumers, but as consumer advocates have long warned, it also allows brands to remotely turn off devices.

Why might Apple be testing a tool like this right now? Let’s dive in.

Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

If you’ve bought any new tech products recently, you’ve probably noticed: New devices are getting really expensive. Just this month Apple raised prices on a variety of its products. iPhone prices haven’t risen just yet, but Tim Cook has prepared the ground for an “unavoidable” iPhone price hike.

Thanks to the ongoing global memory chip crisis known as RAMageddon, new phones now require a serious investment. The new foldable phones released by Samsung this week were preceded by a new Galaxy credit card program.

Apple is believed to be readying a new leasing program of its own. Bloomberg’s Apple oracle, Mark Gurman, says Apple will launch the “Apple Upgrade” leasing program later this month.

Gurman calls it “one of the biggest-ever changes to how the company sells” new devices — and says Apple Upgrade will be part of a partnership with the online lender Klarna, giving buyers a lease-to-buy option. iPhone customers who qualify could make monthly payments over two years.

The code discovered by 9to5Mac also reportedly includes another type of locking mechanism called “Partner Finance Lock,” which would stop users from trying to resell a financed device.

Clearly, Apple and Klarna can’t let customers who miss payments continue to use leased iPhones indefinitely. But it’s also an uncomfortable reminder of how much control Big Tech has over our devices.

Mashable reached out to Apple for comment about Restricted Mode; we’ll update this story if this famously taciturn tech giant provides new information.