This movie unsettled and creeped me out a little, in spite of its problems.I find it more challenging to appreciate a movie than to make fun of it. I save that for special occasions, like the "Omen" remake. So, briefly, here are the problems I had with the film: Some of the dialogue, makeup effects and sound effects in this film are hokey. But apart from that and I found no other major problems with the film, and I think it did its job.Here was what I liked about "The Mangler Reborn": It has a genuinely claustrophobic setting, a creepy soundtrack, and a nasty attitude. Also of note, a majority of its blood, gore and dialogue is effective. The acting is even pretty good for a direct to video feature. Plus, Reggie Bannister's in it, and damn it, I like him.6 stars out of 10. You might like it.

First off, I do not watch horror movies for their ability to be realistic and smart. These movies never are! I watch them to see old horror movie actors and gore. With that said. Yes their are things I didn't enjoy about the movie, Mainly the supporting actors and the Mangler Machine, but aside from that I was entertained.First off it was such a treat to see horror genre favs like, Reggie Bannister(Phantasm 1-4) and Aimee Brooks(critters) Even though ,I know that was not her in the shower scene. The plot is simple, but weak.Some old repairman purchases the old Mangler machine and decides to restore it. That is before it completely takes over his soul. Now he must go door to door and find female victims in order to appease the machine's hunger for human flesh. So he visits Aimee Brooks. Yes she is his first victim. A nice change of pace to attack the heroine first. She puts up a nice fight, but is captured(in broad daylight) and taken to the forbidden house.Next come Reggie Bannister and his son(really bad actor). They are a father -son burglary pair who have chosen the Mangler's house to break in. Evidently Reggie did not case it out so good as to not notice the windows were all bricked up. Reggie enters the house and begins to find that things are not what they seem. There is a real funny part where he Radios his son(they use Walkie Talkies) from a room full of blood. Somehow he doesn't seem to notice the blood until he sees it the second time. The house itself looks like a mansion from outside , but once inside, it is reduced to a kitchen, a basement and five rooms on the upstairs floor, but it works because it gives the house that "trapped inside "effectThere are a few more victims thrown in there to add length to the movie. Like the repairman's daughter. They really caught the possessed feel, when he kills her without a second thought, but their screen time is really not worth mentioning.I enjoyed the movie(enough to watch it a few times), but the Mangler aspect could have been left out. The movie would have worked better just being about some serial killer, who stalked victims and ate them, or whatever. The movie is really about their ability, or should I say inability to escape this house. The two buglers especially. The pace is slow(I notice that bothers a lot of people), but it works for me, because it adds to the tension, that these people are really trapped with no escape and the fact that the only thing they know about their demise is that it causes endless screams of pain, also adds to the torture feel of the film. The writers/directors should have given Aimee Brooks and Reggie Bannister more screen time. and especially Aimee, more running away from stalker time, like in the beginning of the film. Her character (who picks the worst places to hide) was actually pretty smart and it would have been nice to see that when she finally came face to face with the machine, she should have just pulled the plug and kicked the fat guy in the nuts, right before bashing his head with his own rubber mallet.In the end there is a hint to an inevitable part four, which I will only watch if they manage to bring back Reggie Bannister.

The bloodthirsty laundry machine is purchased at auction by repairman Hadley,who quickly becomes possessed and kills his wife.Some time later,Hadley is now abducting young women for the Mangler to kill.One such victim is Jaime,who is taken back to Hadley's house,where the Mangler devours its victims.But while Hadley was away father and son thieves Rick played by Reggie Bannister of "Phantasm" fame and Mike are doing some breaking and entering and it just so happens that their latest target is Hadley's horror house."The Mangler Reborn" is pretty bad.The gore doesn't come until the last 20 minutes,the action moves at the snail's pace and the acting is stiff.Still the third act of "The Mangler Reborn" offers plenty of blood and gore and is worth waiting for.5 out of 10.

While "The Mangler Reborn" is certainly not a masterpiece, it is better than what is reflected in most comments about the film. It is a rare example of a low budget horror film that is played totally straight, no humor and very little self-parody. With a budget of just $85,000 they had to be very inventive so don't expect elaborate production design or special effects. The title character looks like a cafeteria dishwasher being operated by "Edward Scissorhands". They try to pass the thing off as sinister by always showing it in shadows. When a victim is fed to the thing they change to very tight shots of knives and clippers, trying to make it seem like they are part of the machine rather than being held by crew members off-camera. Obviously the film would benefit from a more elaborate and diabolical device, or at least one with some credibility. But the Stephen King inspired premise is a good one and the first two thirds of the film set it all up very nicely. It is almost captivating for a while but finally runs out of gas and plods through the final 30 minutes.An appliance repairman (Weston Blakesley) has acquired the cursed parts from the original "Mangler" (named for the old-style washing machine with external rollers to squeeze the water out of clothes) and is obsessively working to reinvent the lethal thing. Eventually he becomes possessed by the machine and more zombie than human. He must feed it humans because he needs to drink their "squeezins" to keep his zombie body from decaying. Blakesley is quite credible as the slack jawed zombie who takes a rubber mallet on his repair calls and acquires his victims from among his customers. His life is complicated when a father and son burglar team (Reggie Bannister and Scott Speiser) attempt to rob his house and when his daughter comes for a visit. Aimee Brooks gets a whole bunch of standard scream queen moments and is extremely attractive. The main problem is that not enough happens to sustain an eighty-minute feature. Had a parallel story periodically cut in and built up a bit of suspense, "The Mangler Reborn" could have been a engaging little film. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.