The Mangler (1995)

Director: Tobe Hooper

Starring: Robert Englund, Ted Levine

Run Time: 106 mins

Certificate: 18

 

Plot Outline: A cop investigates a death at the local laundry company and finds that the big press machine nicknamed "The Mangler" is actually possessed by an evil spirit that needs blood to keep its owners immortal.

The Review: A horror film about a killer laundry-folding machine? That's what The Mangler is about. Becoming one of the most universally laughed-at horror films I think I've ever seen, The Mangler has become a cliché for the ultimate bad movie. Despite some of the names involved, the film certainly lives up to it's hype in a big way. Having said that, the first half of the film isn't too bad. We get a pretty gruesome death as a woman is crushed inside the machine and the plot isn't as far-fetched as it seems. The idea of feeding people in the machine to make its owners immortal wasn't laughable by any stretch of the imagination considering the lengths other horror flicks have gone to provide a story. But this semi-interesting plot was completely trashed in the last half of the film. I can tolerate the machine being possessed but it's just ridiculous when the machine starts to chase people around the building! The special effects aren't great, although it was only low budget, and watching a laundry machine chase people through dark tunnels really needs some $$$$ behind it to make it look good. The decent thing about this film is the acting. Robert Englund once again proves just how good an actor he really is with a great performance as the crazy owner of the laundry. You probably won't recognise him under the amount of prosthetics that he has on. But he deserves a lot better than some of the roles he's been put in. Ted Levine is also pretty good but the script doesn't help either man. At least they can hold their heads up (not fully though) and say they did all that they could to save this. Tobe Hooper has directed a real clunker here, a film devoid of anything other than giving the horror film a really bad name.

Final Verdict: The Mangler may be worth a brief look for people who are curious to see how bad it really is. It looks like the film was put through a mangler of its own before it got released. Shockingly enough, it has been followed by a couple of sequels, the first of which makes this look like The Godfather.

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