A laundry-folding machine has been possessed by a demon, causing it to develop homicidal tendencies.A laundry-folding machine has been possessed by a demon, causing it to develop homicidal tendencies.A laundry-folding machine has been possessed by a demon, causing it to develop homicidal tendencies.
- Awards
- 1 win total
Featured reviews
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.
This movie rocked. It scared the heck out of me and I loved it.
This is a B-movie through and through. Terminally flawed, but, if you let yourself, you can have a lot of fun watching it. Levine and Englund are both over-the-top and captivating, the plot, script and score are simple and stupid, but in a way that renders them unimportant. Just invite some buds over, get some beer and laugh as Robert Englund hobbles around cursing, Ted Levine pops pills and the machine folds people like sheets. Don't get me wrong, it's really bad and, at times confusing. But, while Tobe Hooper may have dropped the ball on this, he never kicks it out of the court. If you're looking for stupid fun, this is pretty solid.
Its not great but still entertaining when you don't know what to watch. I saw what i wanted to see, there are movies that tease you with "horror" but never show real juicy things, for example the movie "its alive" is about that baby creature but they never show us the baby, but this one did just enough. The only small problem i had was the characters are a bit cartoonish like the way robert englund's character speaks sounds too fake, we are far from freddy for sure. Besides all that, the story is entertaining because freak accidents like that can happen in real life and it gives me chills.
The original short story by Stephen King is bizarre and terrifying. The idea of a possessed laundry-folding machine becoming sentient and homicidal sounds ludicrous, but it works in book form. Obviously, this is due to the titular horror being conjured in the mind of the individual reader.
As a movie it suffers on several fronts:
#1- The source material is only a few pages long, so, the movie had to be padded out to the extreme. This bloat adds nothing to the story, except for nonsensical side issues.
#2- The special effects necessary to make such a mechanical monster even remotely believable would cost many millions of dollars. This movie's microscopic budget made it look more like a poorly-realized cartoon.
#3- Director Tobe Hooper seems to have tried his best, but had very little to work with here. If there's ever been a tale that should remain only in our imaginations, it's THE MANGLER!
On the positive side: Robert Englund and Ted Levine are hilarious. This actually makes the movie bearable, bringing some much-needed mirth into this catastrophe. Their performances are so histrionic that the movie becomes a comedy...
As a movie it suffers on several fronts:
#1- The source material is only a few pages long, so, the movie had to be padded out to the extreme. This bloat adds nothing to the story, except for nonsensical side issues.
#2- The special effects necessary to make such a mechanical monster even remotely believable would cost many millions of dollars. This movie's microscopic budget made it look more like a poorly-realized cartoon.
#3- Director Tobe Hooper seems to have tried his best, but had very little to work with here. If there's ever been a tale that should remain only in our imaginations, it's THE MANGLER!
On the positive side: Robert Englund and Ted Levine are hilarious. This actually makes the movie bearable, bringing some much-needed mirth into this catastrophe. Their performances are so histrionic that the movie becomes a comedy...
Stephen King Movie Adaptations, Ranked
Stephen King Movie Adaptations, Ranked
See how every feature film adaptation of Stephen King's work stacks up, according to IMDb ratings.
Did you know
- TriviaJim Cummings, the voice of iconic characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Darkwing Duck, Pete, Ed the Hyena, Ray the Firefly, Hondo Ohnaka, Dr. Robotnik and a variety of other animated characters, provided the vocal effects for the titular machine and was glad to get to work with director Tobe Hooper, whom he was a fan of, but felt that the strain put on his throat by making the Mangler noises and the quality of the film itself wasn't worth the effort. He once saw the film on television and was amused to see that his name was misspelled as 'Tim Cummings' in the end credits, as it meant that he got paid to do a bad film and no one would even know he had been involved.
- GoofsMark incorrectly refers to a time in New England when witches were burned. This was actually a death sentence during medieval times in Europe, when someone was convicted of witchcraft. Colonial witch trials carried out the death sentence by hanging.
- Quotes
Mark Jackson: Whats in this?
Officer John Hunton: I don't know, they're antacids, I got them from Mrs. Frawley.
Mark Jackson: [looking at ingredients on antacid bottle] Belladonna? You got these from Mrs. Frawley?
Officer John Hunton: The Hand of Glory?
Mark Jackson: I think... we may be fucked.
- Alternate versionsAvailable in an R-rated version and an Unrated "director's cut". The unrated version contains very graphic versions of scenes, including Mrs. Frawley's and Gartley's deaths.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998)
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,781,383
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $933,809
- Mar 5, 1995
- Gross worldwide
- $1,781,383
- Runtime
- 1h 46m(106 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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