X
- 1995
- R
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 46 m
- 1995
- R
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 46 m
Summary A laundry-folding machine has been possessed by a demon from Hell, causing it to develop homicidal tendencies.
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
- 1995
- R
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 46 m
- 1995
- R
- New Line Cinema
- 1 h 46 m
The Mangler
8
7.3
Where to Watch
Summary A laundry-folding machine has been possessed by a demon from Hell, causing it to develop homicidal tendencies.
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Overwhelming Dislike
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
8
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
20% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
80% Negative
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
Metascore
Overwhelming Dislike
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
8
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
20% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
80% Negative
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
The best part of the movie is the fetid, oppressive atmosphere Hooper works up inside the sweatshop that evocatively serves as an industrial hell. The Mangler itself is an imposing creation, and its gory activities (which are more so on an unrated video version) pack an occasional chill, but too much of the movie is devoted to slack plotting and overstated acting.
One would expect a horror movie about a possessed laundry-press to put the audience through the wringer. Instead, this tedious Stephen King adaptation takes the two-dimensional characters of the source story and squashes them even flatter.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 133 User Ratings
7.3
71% Positive
95 Ratings
95 Ratings
3% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
26% Negative
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 133 User Ratings
7.3
71% Positive
95 Ratings
95 Ratings
3% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
26% Negative
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
With its clunky narrative and lack of solid scares or gory effusions until the obligatory all-stops-out climax, pic ends up with little to excite fans of “Elm Street”-style shockers or Hooper’s own “Poltergeist.”
It is not a compliment to suggest that a demonically possessed piece of machinery embarked on a bloodthirsty rampage has more personality than most of the flesh-and-blood characters in The Mangler, a horror movie based on a Stephen King story.
Plodding and virtually plotless (employee gets caught in maw of machine, blood squirts, boss tells everyone to get back to work, employee gets caught in maw of machine...), The Mangler might have been amusing if it had been played for laughs. Instead, this dreary yarn is hardly played for anything. [6 Mar 1995, p.D02]
Adapted by Hooper, Stephen Brooks and Peter Welbeck from a King short story, 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. The movie looks as if it's gone through its namesake, the five-ton, 40-foot-long Hadley Watson Model-6 Steam Ironer & Folder. Even the least demanding of genre fans will be hard-pressed to tremble in its presence.
After a string of disappointments culminating in this silly waste of time, it's hard to care if horror's golden boy carries on or not. Forget The Mangler. Go do your laundry instead.
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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I've seen worse adaptations of King's work, but I thought that since it was directed by Tobe Hooper and had Ted Levine and Robert Englund in the cast, it would be more enjoyable. Boy, was I wrong.
Another clear example that shows that what works in a book, and especially being such a short story, will not always work like a movie.
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Production Company
Distant Horizon,
Filmex,
Allied Film Productions (II)
Release Date Mar 3, 1995
Duration 1 h 46 m
Rating R
Tagline Escape is not an option.
Awards
Fantafestival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
