Emmy Winning ‘Dr. Giggles’ Director Manny Coto Has Passed Away

Bloody Disgusting has learned this evening that Emmy winning writer/producer/director Manny Coto has passed away at the age of 62 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

THR reports, “Coto, whose childhood love of Star Trek and Super-8 moviemaking led to a 40-year career in film and television, died Sunday at his home in Pasadena after a 13-month battle with pancreatic cancer, a family spokesperson announced.”

Here in the horror world, Manny Coto is known for directing the 1992 slasher movie Dr. Giggles, which recently found new life thanks to a Blu-ray release from Scream Factory.

Manny Coto co-wrote the script and directed the 1990s horror movie, which starred the late Larry Drake as the title character, a night-prowling surgical psychopath.

Drew Dietsch shared his love for Dr. Giggles here on BD a few years back, writing: “It’s easy to see why Dr. Giggles didn’t click with audiences at the time. Director Manny Coto basically made a Tales from the Crypt episode into a full-length feature – appropriate as he’d directed the episode “Mournin’ Mess” which premiered a year earlier – and that kind of heightened comic-book riff on horror is tough for wide audiences to get into. But, almost thirty years later, we’re able to appreciate Dr. Giggles for what it is. And it’s an absolute riot of a film.”

Coto indeed directed the “Mournin’ Mess” episode of HBO’s “Tales from the Crypt,” as well as the episode “Love Hurts” from the 1980s horror anthology series “Monsters.”

More recently, Manny Coto directed an episode of “American Horror Stories” titled “Feral,” having previously produced and wrote for three seasons of “American Horror Story.”

Manny Coto won a Primetime Emmy back in 2006 for his work on “24,” and his television credits also include “Dexter,” “Next,” “The Exorcist,” “Odyssey 5,” and “The Outer Limits.”

Coto also directed the 1990 horror film Playroom, as well as the movies Cover-Up (1991), Star Kid (1997), The Other Me (2000), and Zenon: The Zequel (2001).

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