Horror Movie Review: The Mangler (1995)

So bad, it’s good. The Mangler is a delightful example of imaginations running wild, practical gore effects, and actors hamming it up brilliantly. It’s a terrible movie, but you’re going to have a blast watching it.

Directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote the story with Harry Alan Towers (under the pseudonym of Peter Welbeck). The Mangler is actually loosely based on the Stephen King 1972 short story of the same name.

Gartley’s Blue Ribbon Laundry service is a hellish looking place to work. Owned and run by the maniacal and mean Bill Gartley (Robert Englund), the all women employees are worked to the point of exhaustion. They really should try unionising as one look at the gigantic laundry press in the centre of the building will tell you that someone is going to have an accident.

The person is Gartley’s niece, Sherry (Vanessa Pike) who cuts her hand and splashes blood on the machine’s tread. This causes an explosion of lights and sparks, and shortly afterwards, a older worker gets pulled into the machine and folded up like a sheet. The effects are outstanding here.

It looked like an accident, as she had spilled some pills on the moving tread and seemingly got caught in the machine. At least that’s what exhausted police detective John Hunton (Ted Levine) sees. His demonologist brother-in-law Mark (Daniel Matmor is less convinced though.

As more deaths occur, all seemingly related to the mangler, John begins to wonder if it is possible for a machine to be possessed. All while trying to get closer to Sherry and find out what Bill Gartley is hiding.

This brief synopsis leaves out a lot of detail. A lot of detail that enhances the nonsensical aspects of the story. Do you think it’s simply about a possessed laundry press? It’s not! Which does actually harm the movie overall. The script gets a little to messy near the end.

Yet, that doesn’t stop The Mangler being a ton of fun to watch. It is a product of the time, not just with its laughably absurd story, but how it looks and sounds. There was a lot of effort made in making The Mangler look interesting, and it really does. Even if some of the CGI effects really don’t hold up. Thankfully, those are few and far between as the movie tends to rely on impressive practical effects.

The cast all seem to have a lot of fun, and most are well and truly hamming it up. Their characters aren’t well-written, and some really fall of the cliff when it comes to the end, but the actors really do the best they can. Especially when you consider the fact that they’re facing off against a possessed laundry press. Make of that what you will, but it really does make the whole thing that little bit more fun.

Which is the biggest takeaway of The Mangler. A movie that is bad by all normal horror conventions but leans into that with a delightful amount of passion. You may not be blown away by it, but you will remember it.