The Mangler

I picked this one up in a hurry six years ago and now it sits in my living room. I expected a snore-fest but was surprised by how the filmmakers made such a silly premise both entertaining and somewhat original. Odd cast as well: Freddy vs. Buffalo Bill? -and who is this Matmor character? This movie was an hour and a half of unapologetic misery with above average writing, performances and special effects at a time where Stephen Kings work was being pushed onto TV in the form of Diluted MOW garbage. Not for everyone, but in the eyes of a horror fan it is fair to say that it could be Tobe Hooper's best work in years.

This movie rocked. It scared the heck out of me and I loved it.

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...

The Mangler is a decent,scary film.It aint Shakespeare,but it's a good way to pass some time.Based on on of my favorite Stephen King short stories,it has an interesting premise and some good performances,especially Ted Levine and Robert Englund.It's nice to see Tobe Hooper back in something like good form after so many dogs.6 out of 10.

I was hunting down some old Horror DVD's, the DVD cover and the information on the back was enough for me to be excited to purchase this.

I watched it last night, it's quite watchable, it is a very competently made horror movie from the 1990s, it feels cheap B entertainment at it's best. A Machine possessed by a demon, I mean it's pretty clear this ain't no Conjuring standard.

The acting was fine from all the leads, the director also did a good job in making a dark believable environment, nothing about this movie stands out as it's defining feature other than that it was made in the 90's and stars Robert England (Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger).

Surprisingly to my knowledge, this also spawned a sequel "The Mangler 2" from 2002 and "The Mangler Reborn" in 2005.

I don't think I would be checking those out anytime soon, but if you are curious like me, you can have a watch at least once.

Based on the reviews here, either people really loved it or just purely hated it, the rating reflects exactly that. It's definitely a 5 out of 10 for me.