Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Based on a Stephen King short story, Tobe Hooper's The Mangler stars Robert Englund as William 'Bill' Gartley, boss of an industrial laundry that is home to a demonically possessed, steam powered mangle which grants power to it's owner in exchange for body parts and human sacrifices. Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs) is John Hunton, a jaded police officer investigating a fatal accident at the laundry who, with the help of his brother-in-law Mark (Daniel Matmor), uncovers the terrible truth and tries to put a stop to the malevolent machine.I haven't read Stephen King's original short story, but since he is one of the best- selling authors of all time, I trust that he somehow turned the idea of a killer mangle into a satisfyingly creepy tale. Director Tobe Hooper has been far less successful in his career than King, failing to live up the early promise he showed with horror hits The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem's Lot and Poltergeist. For The Mangler, Hooper employs an almost comical style, with gaudy lighting, exaggerated set design and grotesque characters reminiscent of his '76 movie Eaten Alive (which also featured Englund) and his 1986 Texas Chainsaw sequel, but here he fails to push the ghoulish absurdity to the extreme level the outrageously daft concept requires.In short, I would have liked crazier mangler action throughout, with more gore and a shorter running time.5.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 6 for the hilarious evil ice-box.

Mangler, The (1995) * 1/2 (out of 4) Officer John Hunton (Ted Levine) is called to the Blue Ribbon laundry factory after an elderly woman accidentally fell into the press and was killed. When Hunton arrives on the scene he's in shock at the amount of blood on the floor but he falls sick after seeing what the machine did to this woman's body. In the following days Hunton checks back with some safety officials trying to find out why the safety switch didn't go off but the safety control comes back as working so it's a mystery why this accident happened.However, soon more accidents start happening and the factories elderly owner (Robert England) seems to be keeping his mouth shut on a few things. Confused and not knowing what to do next, Hunton starts talking to his brother in law who studies occult activities and he seems to believe that this machine, known as a Manger, is alive and wanting the blood of virgin women. As more and more accidents start happening Hunton realizes that they are dealing with something alive and that the secret is with the machine's owner.Tobe Hooper is probably the most criticized horror director of the past thirty years. Outside his debut film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre he really hasn't delivered anything worthwhile and The Mangler might very well be his worst film and that's saying a lot considering some of the films he's made. The film is based on a short story by Stephen King, which could have led to an interesting film but Hooper doesn't know how to tell a story and that really hurts things especially a film running nearly two hours, which is about one hour too long.Suspension of disbelief is the most important aspect when it comes to being a horror fan but if Hooper thinks we can hold that for two hours about a possessed laundry machine then he's got another thing coming. While watching this film I couldn't help but wonder what Hooper was thinking. The actual mystery to the laundry machine is so incredibly boring and silly that the viewer could care less how everything turns out and could care less if the machine likes virgins or not. In fact, things probably would have been better had it liked pizza that way the machine could have ordered pizza and attacked the deliver boys.The direction is all over the map because it's never quite clear what Hooper is trying to do with the film. The running time keeps it from being a clever slasher film and the low body count doesn't help matters either. Even the death scenes, which you'd expect to be over the top, are all rather bland and it takes way too long between each of them. Just when you thought thinks couldn't get any worse we get one of the dumbest and lamest endings in horror film history. The laundry machine grows CGI legs and arms and goes on the attack while our heroes try to perform an exorcism on it.There are a few saving graces in the film however and one is the opening sequence, which Hooper directs very well. Hooper does a wonderful job building up the suspense of the first attack because it's not too pleasant to see someone smashed and crewed to death by a press. The way Hooper builds this up makes one think he has returned to form but then again it all falls apart when he tries to tell the actual story. The art direction is another very big plus as is the rather awkward performance by Ted Levine from The Silence of the Lambs. I've always enjoyed him as a character actor and he makes the film a lot more interesting to watch, although I'm still not sure what's up with his accent, which is constantly changing throughout the film. Horror legend Robert England is also on hand playing a crippled, old man but he's quite awful. Certain people like Vincent Price can go over the top and still be watchable but when England goes over the top the effects are quite horrid.The Mangler was meant to be Tobe Hooper's return to form but outside that opening scene he has delivered a very bad film that doesn't have anything going for it. Perhaps if Hooper had cut the film down to eighty-minutes then something could have happened a bit better. Watching people being chewed by a press could have been interesting but we got a stupid detective story that added nothing and leaves us with a very bad horror film that should have never been made. I keep hoping Hooper will make a comeback but it hasn't happened yet in the nine years since this was released. Somehow, this film got a direct-to-video sequel in 2001

The Blue Ribbon Laundry has a gigantic machine that presses and folds sheets. The machine has large rollers to press the laundry and generates lots of steam. It's nicknamed The Mangler. The owner of the laundry is William 'Bill' Gartley (Robert Englund) who is an S.O.B. He has a glass eye and steel legs.His 15 year old niece cuts her hand and some of her blood drops into the Mangler. It seems to like the blood. Old Mrs. Frawley is the first to go. She gets sucked into the Mangler and comes out not looking too good albeit quite a bit thinner.Officer John (Ted Levine) is dispatched to investigate.There are more accidents and more deaths and Officer John comes to the conclusion that the Mangler is possessed by a demon. Spoilers *****The rich people in the town have given a human sacrifice to the Mangler in order to stay in power. The sacrifice has to be a 16 year old and it just so happens that Sherry is turning 16. What a coincidence. Gartley knocks Sherry unconscious and takes her to the laundry to be sacrificed.The Mangler is adapted from an early Stephen King short story that appeared in the men's magazine Cavalier. The movie is yet another failure to adapt King's work to the screen. The story, while silly, is a heck of a lot better than this film. Director Tobe Hooper, who has always been incompetent, sinks to even lower depths of incompetence on this one. The Mangler is a totally worthless movie.My rating: Total Dud

Oh... what to say. This is a REALLY bad movie... at first. Then it grows on you. Of course, that's only if you learn to love and accept it. It seemed SO bad that I thought it was a joke. Then I found out that someone actually thought this was a good idea for a horror movie. But, that only made it funnier. I actually wound up enjoying it. It reminds me of movies like "Squirm" that are actually so awful, but are taken seriously so... that they wind up being somewhat good. My view is to make it your own "Mystery Science Theater 3000" or something. I suppose you have to be a certain type of person for this kind of thing though. But, I recommend seeing it... just for laughs, not for scares. =)