Customer Reviews

The Mangler

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The Mangler's not one of the more popular King adaptations. The inspiration for King's story most likely was how nasty it would be if someone actually got caught in one of those steam irons. It certainly would be a horrific scene, but as nasty as that is, it's not a concept you can really make a feature film around. That's probably why King wrote it as a short story. Stretching the short story into a feature length film requires much more plot to be added(the short story may have had a half hour worth of film material, tops). Alot of folks who bash this film usually have something along the lines of...."With the talent involved, how could it be this bad?"...to say. Well, most horror fans have a hard time admitting to themselves that since Texas Chainsaw, Tobe Hooper has become increasingly schlocky as the years go by. We all know it, we just don't say it. Englund hasn't always made the best stuff, and not every King story is a winner. In The Mangler, Hooper is trying to actually make the film scary. The tone is much more serious than subject matter like this should be. Sure, the first scene where the machine claims it's first victim is effective, but by the time you reach two grown men performing an exorcism on a laundry folder, and then having the machine turn into a Lovecraftian monster, it's just too damn silly. So why the four stars? Well, I actually do enjoy this movie quite a bit. If you want to view this with the intention of getting your pants scared off, it'll fail. If you view The Mangler as drive-in fare, it's fun. It's got some nasty gore, an over the top villain played by Robert Englund, funny lines(both intentional and unintentional), and the film is actually shot very well. As others have stated, the acting is hammy, particularly in Englund's case. However, certain mention should go to Ted "wasn't she a great big fat person" Levine. The film is practically a showcase for Levine's odd performance. Is he being campy and over the top? Is he serious and coming off as goofy? It's hard to tell for sure, but he's always amusing and never boring to watch. I think the guy's actually a good actor and it was cool to see him in a leading role. If this were made today, it'd be Orlando Friggin' Bloom or some other schmuck that's mistaken for a good actor. My disappointment with this dvd is that it's the theatrical R-rated version. One of the special features shows a split-screen comparisson of the R and unrated versions. Why the hell not just put those snippets back in the movie? Especially in these days where studios are so "unrated" hogwild. I'm surprised we didn't see an unrated version of Happy Feet when it csme out on dvd. I used to have a vhs copy of this movie, and it was the unrated version with the extra nastiness. So, I know it can be done. The deleted bits are quick gore shots that actually do enhance the scenes and make them much nastier. But anyhow, I do actually think this is a pretty fun movie...depending on how you look at it,that is.

With a great looking mechanical monster and a plot that expands Stephen King's little horror story (but does not adequately explore its expansion), Tobe Hooper's The Mangler is a near miss. The movie needs more than a little editorial tinkering, cutting to be precise. Far too many scenes, if not all of them, run far too long, passing the point taken and are you stretching this boundaries and plunging right into DO SOMETHING ELSE ALREADY territory. Nonetheless, when The Mangler is in action and revealing its demonic personality the movie is, more or less, worth sitting through. Englund is a hoot as well, firmly embracing Vincent Price's lay on the ham with relish acting philosophy. Worth at least one viewing.

In this film Stephen King touches a quite common theme in his fiction : the evilness of industrialism. But in this case the machine is not possessed by an animal monster like in The Nightshift, or by an It like in IT. It is possessed by the devil itself, but the devil of power. This machine, this devil needs sacrifice and those who have power have to sacrifice something to it to get this power. They have to feed its hunger for fresh blood, virginal blood and belladonna. The machine tries to eat the people who are using belladonna for their nerves and the machine receives human sacrifices from those who want power. If you want to evade giving a part of yourself, you have to sacrifice a young virginal sixteen-year-old girl of your family. And there is no way to stop it. It cannot be exorcised by anything. No holy water, no holy wafer, no biblical incantation will stop it, and even if one powerful person is sacrificed, then another one will benefit of this sacrifice, another one who will have given, by accident or willingly, a part of himself or herself, a finger or an arm. This vision of industrialism as a devilish possession is a rare way to show that industrial work is slavery and total alienation. This vision of power in this industrial society as a pact signed with the devil that inhabits the machine is a rare denunciation of capitalism. And yet, since this is linked to a tradition as old as humanity, it is human social life, and the organisation of human society on a power pattern that is denounced in the most general way. One little element shows how this power-giving and blood-hungry devil works : the photographer and then the intellectual who discover the existence of this devil and try to denounce it and even exorcise it are killed by the super power of this devil. It does not like being known. It likes secrecy and ignorance. The film is extremely effective in its powerful images and symbols and it is heart gripping. A very rare introduction to Stephen King's realm of horror. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

Legendary Texas Chainsaw Massacre creator Tobe Hooper directed this adaptation of a Stephen King short story for New Line Cinema, and sadly, it doesn't work at all. The last time the names Hooper and King were in the same sentence together was when Hooper crafted the classic, original Salem's Lot mini-series, but there's no magic here like there was before. Maybe it's because the story itself wasn't one of King's better ones, or maybe Hooper didn't put everything into it. The story revolves around a cop (Silence of the Lambs' Ted Levine) assigned to investigate strange and grisly murders, all of which point to a laundry press which appears to be posessed. The owner of the factory (Robert "Freddy Kruger" Englund) seems to not be concerned about any of this, and by the time revelations are made, you probably won't care. The story has it's share of faults, while Hooper's direction is uninspired. There's some nice gore, and Levine and Englund are good, even though it's hard to seperate Englund from his infamous role as a horror icon. All in all, the Mangler may be worth seeing if you're a fan of Tobe Hooper or Stephen King, but don't expect anything special out of it.

How could you possibly go wrong with a movie forged by the Holy Trinity of Terror: the inspired, deranged, ghoulish minds of Stephen King, Tobe Hooper, and Robert Englund---particularly when the subject of "The Mangler" is a demon-possessed industrial laundry machine ravenous for human flesh and blood?

Short answer: you can't! If your local coin-op laundromat is closed for the night, it's certainly worth your while to take your dirty clothes over to the old Bartley mill and get 'em steam-pressed.

For your time and blood money, here's what you get out of this tasty little nugget of pure bloody stupidity. SEE---

*A REAL villain---certainly not your boring, ordinary old serial killer from central casting, but a demon-possessed 19th century steam-belching industrial press laundry machine (the Hadley Watson #6, naturally). This mass murderer means business: rather than just stabbing or shooting its victims---how mundane!---it folds, spindles, and mutilates them, then considerately folds and presses them!

*The great Ted Levine (who played Buffalo Bill in "Silence of the Lambs") woefully miscast as a small-town Maine police detective and hero of the movie! Levine slurs every line in that trademark cross between a gargle and a whine, and I would burst out in laughter every time he talked. Funny stuff! While Levine was investigating the messy death of the portly pill-popping Mrs. Frawley, I kept waiting for him to say "oh yeah, I remember, she was that great big fat person".

*Daniel Matmor as a sort of poor man's Tom Conti, who proposes to "read Leviticus" to the demon laundry machine and engages in a scenery-chewing contest with Robert Englund and the Machine. The Machine wins.

*And of course, Robert Englund himself, cackling insanely, cracking that corporate whip, and waddling about in a kind of combination crutches-lower body exoskeleton like some a demon-possessed version of Lionel Barrymore's Old Man Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life"!

There's a lot of material thrown into "The Mangler"---you've got the demonic laundry machine, belladonna pills, virgin blood, ancient sacrifice, the town's power-mad aristocracy, even a contract between Englund's insane old tycoon and the Hadley-Watson #6--- served up with some nice directorial panache and stylish camera angles by Tobe Hooper. But that said, "The Mangler" isn't about viewing-for-comprehension: this is high-octane garbage, served up with a fine helping up gore and with a side-order of extra-rare gore. Did I mention "The Mangler" is gory?

Levine, despite being stamped forever as the cross-dressing serial killer Jame Gumb in my mind, is actually pretty funny to watch as the lead---you laugh at him, not with him---and he puts some rough miles on a Jeep Cherokee. Datmor plays Watson to Levine's Holmes, and overacts ferociously to the scripture-quoting finish. Englund does his snarling, drooling, leering, cackling thing, evidently has the time of his life, and gets a good tailor in the bargain. Loved the ascot and smoking jacket!

Tobe Hooper keeps up the pace, throws in some moody interiors, cobbles together a pretty ferocious man-eating laundry machine (all stamped Industrial Revolution gears and pressed black metal---brrr!), and keeps up an onslaught of mayhem as workers get pulled into the presser and you start wondering about the damage this is doing to the mill's profit margins.

Moral of the Story #1: If you want to run a profitable and worry-free industrial laundry business, it's probably not a good idea to build it around a Demonic Laundry Machine.

Moral of the Story #2: If you absolutely *must* have the Demonic Laundry Machine in your business, then don't let the virgin mill-worker bleed into the press of the Demonic Laundry Machine.

Moral of the Story #3: If you're a 16-year-old virgin mill-worker, you probably shouldn't work for Robert Englund, and at the very least you should stay far away from the Demonic Laundry Machine.

Is this a horror classic? Absolutely not. Is it enjoyable, bloody, unapologetic, trashy fun, and will you get your clothes back on Monday in time for work? You betcha! Throw this sick puppy in the hopper and let's get to pressing laundry---we're on the clock, and time is money!

Let's just set one thing straight, The Mangler is by no means a great film, nor is it one of Stephen King's worthier ventures into moviemaking. However, if you take it upon yourself to view this movie with no notion of pretext (and perhaps without reading the story first) you may just find it to be something you can enjoy, if only to laugh at. Basically the premise is a laundry press, a behemoth of a machine designed to fold laundry, becomes possessed and starts killing workers at the Blue Ribbon Laundry. The small town cop who gets to investigate the deaths begins to suspect foul play and eventually the supernatural.

Everything points to the Laundry's owner, played by Robert Englund who is amazingly unconcerned about the loss of employees. Englund goes to town as a wreck of a human being, bound in metal leg braces and horribly disfigured who runs his business with an iron fist. One might say that's not too much of a stretch from his most famous role but it works.

Overall this is good for those who like gore, scary small town happenstance (gee, that's not a Stephen King trademark is it?), and anything by H.P. Lovecraft. Besides, Tobe Hooper directed this film and if you like the Horror genre that should at least pique your interest.

I liked this movie. It was different than what is out in theaters now and it is different in movies in general. I also thought that the acting was good and the special effects were good as well. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone that likes horror movies.

To disagree with another review of this gory adaption of a King short story, the movie hardly follows the story at all. Sure, the plot elements are the same, but minor details are different. Details just minor enough o affect the outcome of the story. Because there's so many I'll only reveal one: Both the man characters are wifeless. Levine's wife is dead and his pal's a bachelor. Also, Englund' character and the pact he's made with the demon in the machine is different. Englund's character in the book is only mentioned once or twice, and he isn't a main player in the events. Overall repulsive, yet shockingly entertaining. Much like Rob Zombie's: "House Of 1000 Corpses". But, what more to expect from the director of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

"The Mangler" is a film that should have never gotten a green light. Period. This is an embarrassment for nearly everyone involved, and that's saying something when you look at the talent in front of and behind the camera. First of all, you've got a movie based on a Stephen King short story. O.K., that's hardly a ringing endorsement considering how many sludgefests we've seen on the silver screen with, "Based on a story by Stephen King" above or below the title, but STILL. We ought to expect something special, right? Uh huh. Second, we've got Robert Englund camping it up as one of the two main baddies in the film. Not only that, he stomps about in old guy makeup with metal accoutrements hanging off his every limb. Cool, right? Well, yeah--except we don't see nearly enough of him. Third, and finally, none other than Tobe Hooper assumed the directorial duties for "The Mangler." The man behind the brilliant "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "The Funhouse" stepping up to the plate to knock another horror movie out of the ballpark. Sorry Tobe, but "The Mangler" strikes out at the plate. How could this movie possibly miss, you ask? Not only does it miss, it misses by a couple of million miles.

William Gartley (Englund) runs a laundry factory on the outskirts of some small town. He's a tyrant of a boss, prone to stalking about a catwalk that runs around the top of the factory while bellowing nonsensical insults at the put upon female workers toiling in the morass below. And the plant is a morass, full of steaming machinery that looks like it stepped right out of a Dickens novel. The centerpiece is a gigantic laundry folding apparatus, called the Hadley Watkins or some such nonsense, which systematically chews and folds humans when its not doing sheets. The first death in the factory summons the local constabulary in the form of Officer John Hutton (Ted Levine), but nothing much happens. We then follow Hutton back to his house where we meet his hippy dippy neighbor Mark Jackson (Daniel Matmor), a kook whose hobbies seem to revolve around the investigation of the supernatural. How handy! We just know Jackson's hocus pocus will serve a purpose later in the narrative, and indeed we are correct because the Hadley Watkins machine is actually a demonic force that gives power to those who feed it human sacrifices. Sigh. You know, this sounded better when Stephen King wrote the story.

"The Mangler" lurches from one turgid scene to another, only garnering interest when we catch sight of some of the gory carnage that inevitably arises when flesh meets steel. After a few more people say bye bye thanks to the machine, Hutton gets suspicious. It helps that a flashbulb tossing crime photog by the name of J.J.J. Pictureman (Jeremy Crutchley) pops up once in awhile to capture death on film and drop a few cryptic statements about the goings on in town. Well, it doesn't help that much, mind you, but he does swing by more than a few times looking all old and shriveled up in pancake makeup that should make a real special effects artist blanche in embarrassment. There's some nonsense about a possessed refrigeration unit from the factory--or whatever that white box with fire coming out of it was--and a bunch of scenes involving Hutton beating his fists against anything he can find and raging. I don't know; nothing really makes that much sense here. We also learn that Gatley is up to no good with a certain family member. Again, I don't really know how this relates to the narrative. By the time the movie judders to a conclusion that's witnessed the Hadley stalking about the factory like some sort of steel dinosaur with a bad attitude, I was ready for a nap.

I kept thinking the studio mangled "The Mangler" because the movie just doesn't seem to fit together very well. Of course, that's not the only problem here. A big mistake was casting Ted Levine in the lead role. I'm not criticizing his abilities as an actor; he did a fantastic job in "The Silence of the Lambs." But here he just...well...doesn't inspire any believability. He's more suited to playing baddies than good guys, what with that slurry voice and all. I clucked with disapproval on several occasions when he delivered lines that should have been serious but came off sounding banal because of that voice. Englund's much better--he dances around like some malevolent metallic elf at one point--but his scenes are so few that I felt the movie could have succeeded if only he had been the primary focus. The gore is great too, with lots of quick cuts of limbs and heads being folded and pressed amidst great gushings of sauce, but again there isn't enough to make up for the myriad parts of the movie that just drag by so slowly. I find it incredible that this movie inspired two sequels, one of which is coming out in the near future. I sure hope they're better than this heap o' compost!

Incredibly, there are extras on the DVD. I don't know if there's a commentary track on the disc (I wouldn't have listened to one anyway), but I do remember the inclusion of additional gore scenes. What they did is split the screen and play the edited version on top and the extra sauce on the bottom. The cuts are quick but especially juicy in some parts. It's nothing that would have helped the film had they been included, though. I'm betting good old Tobe wishes this one would just go away. Frankly, I'd rather rewatch "Chain Saw" and "Lifeforce" than spend a second looking at this tripe again. Not recommended for anyone.

Tobe Hooper returns to the works of Stephen King in this uneven possession tale. The blood of a young virgin brings to life a monstrous laundry press, which goes on to crush and dismember anyone that goes near it. It is up to a blundering cop and his New Age neighbor to release the demons trapped in the machine in order to stop it once and for all. As ridiculous as the premise may be, THE MANGLER delivers on its promise of torn limbs and bloodied bodies. Outside of these few gory moments, however, the film fails to deliver a coherent story or any interesting characters. Hunter's shoddy police work along with his neighbor's crackpot theories line the script with tiresome filler and very little action. Robert Englund also appears in a throwaway cameo as William Gartley, owner of the Blue Ribbon Laundry who's soul is tied to the infernal machine, but even his slimy performance misses the mark. This is certainly one of the weaker King adaptations from the 90's.

-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies