The Mangler (film)

The Mangler is a 1995 horror film directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Hooper and Harry Alan Towers (under the pseudonym of Peter Welbeck). The film is based upon the Stephen King 1972 short story of the same name, which appeared in his 1978 inaugural short story collection Night Shift. It stars Robert Englund and Ted Levine. It also spawned two sequels The Mangler 2 and The Mangler Reborn.

The Mangler
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTobe Hooper
Produced byAnant Singh
Screenplay byTobe Hooper
Stephen David Brooks
Peter Welbeck
Based onThe Mangler by Stephen King
Starring
Music byBarrington Pheloung
CinematographyAmnon Salomon
Edited byDavid Heitner
Production
company
Allied Film Production
Distant Horizons
Filmex Pty. Ltd.
New Line Cinema
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release date
  • 3 March 1995 (1995-03-03)[1]
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
Australia
South Africa
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.8 million (domestic)[2]

Plot

The Mangler, in Gartley's Blue Ribbon Laundry service, is a laundry press owned by Bill Gartley (Englund). The trouble starts when Gartley's niece, Sherry (Pike), accidentally cuts herself on a lever connected to the machine and splashes blood on the Mangler's tread while trying to avoid being crushed by an old ice box some movers are clumsily carrying past. Sparks and light streams occur when both the blood and the ice box come into close contact with the Mangler. Later, Mrs. Frawley, an elderly worker, struggling to open a bottle of antacids, spills them on the moving tread. When she attempts to collect them, the safety shield inexplicably lifts up and traps her hand inside, followed by her entire body getting pulled into the machine, crushed and folded like a sheet.

Police officer John Hunton (Levine), with the help of his demonologist brother-in-law Mark (Matmor), investigates the incident and others that soon follow. As the plot progresses, Mark tries to convince Hunton that the machine may be possessed, especially after seeing the possessed ice box, and the only way to stop the deaths is to exorcise the machine to dispel whatever demon is inhabiting it. They also come to learn Gartley and the town elders have all sacrificed their virginal daughters to the machine on their 16th birthdays in exchange for wealth and power, with Gartley planning to do the same to Sherry to complete his end of the bargain.

With Sherry's help, the two men attempt to exorcise the demon – which also kills Gartley, his lover and protégé Lin Sue and the laundry's foreman Stanner – by reciting a prayer and administering holy water. The machine gives one last groan and shuts down. As the three sigh with relief, Hunton takes some antacids, admitting to Mark that they belonged to Mrs. Frawley. Mark suddenly realises that the key ingredient in the antacids is deadly nightshade, also called "the Hand of Glory" as outlined in his occult book. Since the machine was accidentally fed the same antacids, Mark realises that not only was the exorcism useless, as the demon is still alive, it is now stronger than ever. The machine bursts to life and now appears to have a mind of its own, shedding pieces of metal and rising up like a wild beast. The three run through the warehouse, chased by the now-mobile Mangler. The Mangler tears Mark apart, killing him, while John and Sherry descend a flight of stairs, where Sherry attempts to give herself to the Mangler to stop it, but John stops her. In their hurry to escape, they fall through a large manhole into the sewer below, the machine struggling to get to them. Suddenly, something falls from the machine into the water and a mechanical wail ensues. The machine draws back and becomes still, and John and Sherry escape.

While waiting to hear news of Sherry, John receives a letter from his departed friend and confidant, photographer J.J.J. Pictureman (Crutchley), who warns him not to trust anyone in the town missing a body part as they are possessed by the Mangler. Time passes and John drops in on her. However, to his great dismay, he discovers the machine has returned to its place on the floor and resumed its duties as a speed ironer and Sherry, now missing her ring finger from her encounter with the Mangler, has taken her uncle's place as the new tyrannical owner of the Blue Ribbon Laundry. He throws away the flowers he brought her and leaves the factory for good.

Cast
  • Robert Englund as William "Bill" Gartley
  • Daniel Matmor as Mark Jackson
  • Ted Levine as Officer John Hunton
  • Vanessa Pike as Sherry Ouelette
  • Jeremy Crutchley as JJJ Pictureman / Mortician
  • Lisa Morris as Lin Sue
  • Demetre Phillips as George Stanner
  • Vera Blacker as Mrs. Frawley

Release

The Mangler was released in the US on 3 March 1995.[1] New Line Home Entertainment released it on DVD on 17 August 2004.[3]

In its first week, it underperformed and took in $1.1M on 800 screens at the US box office.[4] It also failed in the European box office.[5]

Reception

The Mangler received a negative critical reception. On film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 27% approval rating based on 11 reviews.[6] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post 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".[7] Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle wrote, "perhaps it's time for Tobe Hooper to hang up his light meter. 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."[8] Godfrey Cheshire of Variety called its villain a "silly contrivance" and described the acting and story as lackluster.[9] Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it "a potpourri of supernatural cliches and warmed-over Stephen King notions about corruption randomly stuck together with fill-in-the-blanks dialogue."[10] David Kronke of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Consider, for a second, what you might honestly expect from a movie called The Mangler. Well, it doesn't even aim that high."[11] Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer called it a "plodding and virtually plotless" film that should have been played for laughs.[12] Stephen Hunter of The Baltimore Sun stated the film recycles common Stephen King themes, but the film's novelty makes it enjoyable for horror fans.[13]

The Mangler fared somewhat better with retrospective reviews from critics. Bloody Disgusting rated it 3/5 stars and wrote that the film "is not good by any objective standards, but it's a fun little gory time-killer with a possessed refrigerator and an evil laundry press. That can't be all bad."[14] Jon Condit of Dread Central rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "The Mangler is a true test for the guilty pleasure connoisseur. Bad in every respect, there are definitely worse ways to blow two hours of your time (this film's sequel comes to mind); it's just a shame Hooper was implicated in it."[15] Mike Long of DVD Talk 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."[16] David Johnson of DVD Verdict wrote that the film "features a lot of gore, a solid, creepy atmosphere, some wonky special effects, all set against a really dumb premise."[17]

Film critic Scout Tafoya of RogerEbert.com included The Mangler in his video series "The Unloved", where he highlights films which received mixed to negative reviews yet he believes to have artistic value. Tafoya considers the film to be "up there with [Christine] and [The Shining]" as among the best Stephen King adaptations, "in that it's a stylistic representation of the director's obsessions, not just a boilerplate transposition of his text." Tafoya lamented that "I can't help but get angry and defeated imagining what it must have been like for one of this country's most obviously talented filmmakers to continually get the short end of the stick, critically and commercially", and stating that "[i]t's perversely fitting that [Tobe Hooper's] greatest failure is about the very machinery of capitalism that would imprison him in the world of low-budget productions.... The Mangler was a kind of oddball film with an unknowable center that had become a rarity in American cinema. That just makes it that much more special."[18]

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See also

Death Bed: The Bed That Eats, another horror film with an inanimate antagonist

References
  1. "Exhibs Forecast Bleak Outlook For 1st-qtr. Pix". Variety. 1 January 1995. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  2. "The Mangler". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  3. "The Mangler Comes To DVD on August 17". IGN. 17 May 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  4. "Full 'House' 'Bunch' Slips 'Just' OK". Variety. 12 March 1995. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  5. Groves, Dan (26 June 1995). "'Bat' wings clipped at Japan B.O." Variety. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  6. "The Mangler (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  7. Harrington, Richard (6 March 1995). "'The Mangler' (R)". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  8. Savlov, Marc (10 March 1995). "The Mangler". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  9. Cheshire, Godfrey (5 March 1995). "Review: 'The Mangler'". Variety. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  10. Holden, Stephen (4 March 1995). "FILM REVIEW; Dirty Work at the Blue Ribbon Laundry". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  11. Konke, David (6 March 1995). "MOVIE REVIEW : 'Mangler' a Tale of a Hungry Machine". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  12. Rea, Steven (6 March 1995). "Employees Are Pressed Out of Service". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  13. Hunter, Stephen (7 March 1995). "Only horror fans are likely to be impressed with 'The Mangler'". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  14. "The Mangler". Bloody Disgusting. 22 October 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  15. Condit, Jon (29 August 2004). "Mangler, The (DVD)". Dread Central. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  16. Long, Mike (9 August 2004). "The Mangler". DVD Talk. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  17. Johnson, David (24 August 2004). "The Mangler". DVD Verdict. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  18. Tafoya, Scout (2 October 2017). "The Unloved, Part 46: "The Mangler"". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
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