The Mangler (1995)

• Year: 1995
• Released: 03 Mar 1995
• Country: South Africa, United Kingdom
• Adwords: 1 win
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113762/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_mangler
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-mangler
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Horror, Mystery
• Runtime: 106 min
• Writer: Tobe Hooper, Stephen David Brooks, Harry Alan Towers
• Director: Tobe Hooper
• Cast: Robert Englund, Ted Levine, Daniel Matmor
• Keywords: living machine, crushed,

	4.3/10
	8/100

The Mangler Storyline

When an accident involving a folding machine at an old laundry occurs, detective John Hunton decides to investigate. What he finds is the owner of the laundry, Bill Gartley. Meanwhile the folding machine has acquired a taste for the flesh of human beings, but is there more to Bill Gartley than meets the eye, and does he know what monster hides behind the machine?

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The Mangler Movie Reviews

Bizarr But Not Awful

A laundry folding machine is possessed by a demon from Hell.

The reviews for “The Mangler” are predominantly bad. Richard Harrington wrote, “The Mangler is ludicrous from start to finish: its plot lines dangle, its effects fail to dazzle and the acting and directing are uniformly bad… even the least demanding of genre fans will be hard-pressed to tremble in its presence.” This is partially true. The plot is not as strong as it could be, but it does have a few nice touches, most notably the gore.

Mike Long rated it 0.5/5 stars and wrote, “There have been many bad, throw-away projects based on material from Stephen King, but The Mangler has to be one of the worst. The movie’s laughable premise is only brought down by the inept filmmaking on display here.” Yep. The acting is pretty bad (especially the way lines are delivered), and there is just no getting around the fact this is a story about a possessed laundry machine… it might be good as a short story (I don’t know), but to make it believable on screen? And I think they made at least one if not two sequels…

mangled machinery

Despite being based on a Stephen King short story, “The Mangler” is no “Carrie”. Despite being directed by Tobe Hooper, it’s no “Poltergeist”. Despite starring Robert Englund, it’s no “Nightmare on Elm Street”. The rather silly plot has a laundry-folding machine getting possessed and start eating people. Yeah, really. It’s pretty entertaining for the time that it runs, but this movie cannot get treated as any sort of horror classic. Aside from Englund, the other star — aside from the diabolical apparatus — is Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill in “Silence of the Lambs”).

I’d like to see Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, Wes Craven all collaborate on a movie.

Not quite bonkers enough.

Based on a Stephen King short story, Tobe Hooper’s The Mangler stars Robert Englund as William ‘Bill’ Gartley, boss of an industrial laundry that is home to a demonically possessed, steam powered mangle which grants power to it’s owner in exchange for body parts and human sacrifices. Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs) is John Hunton, a jaded police officer investigating a fatal accident at the laundry who, with the help of his brother-in-law Mark (Daniel Matmor), uncovers the terrible truth and tries to put a stop to the malevolent machine.

I haven’t read Stephen King’s original short story, but since he is one of the best- selling authors of all time, I trust that he somehow turned the idea of a killer mangle into a satisfyingly creepy tale. Director Tobe Hooper has been far less successful in his career than King, failing to live up the early promise he showed with horror hits The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem’s Lot and Poltergeist. For The Mangler, Hooper employs an almost comical style, with gaudy lighting, exaggerated set design and grotesque characters reminiscent of his ’76 movie Eaten Alive (which also featured Englund) and his 1986 Texas Chainsaw sequel, but here he fails to push the ghoulish absurdity to the extreme level the outrageously daft concept requires.

In short, I would have liked crazier mangler action throughout, with more gore and a shorter running time.

5.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 6 for the hilarious evil ice-box.