"The Mangler" was an overall pretty disappointing effort.**SPOILERS**Working at the Blue Ribbon Laundry service, William Gartley, (Robert Englund) becomes concerned wi6th the growing number of accidents in the facility. When Officer John Hunton, (Ted Levine) is called to the latest accident, he finds that Annette Gillian, (Ashley Hayden) is one of the only employees who's actually helpful, and despite his feelings against doing so, the factory is started up and the accidents continue. When talk arises from friend Mark Jackson, (Daniel Matmor) about it being possessed, the whole situation is laughed off as ridiculous, but as the evidence mounts that eventually point to it being haunted, they finally believe the truth and set out to stop the deadly device before more are killed or injured.The Good News: This one did have a few things going for it. The main thing is that the scenes inside the factory, when the machine is showing off the possession, are actually rather good. The first sequence, where the machine, after several close-calls, manages to snap and slice open the hand of one of the employees is brilliantly done, namely due to the film's ability to make the factory really creepy. With all the hissing steam blowing into the area, obscuring the demonic-looking machines appearing out of the darkness, making it look and feel extremely hot and dangerous, using the situation to a great effect. There's some other good parts from these scenes, and they're all pretty fun. The ending battle with the machine, when it becomes disconnected and chases them around the bowels of the facility in a long, extended chase through the darkened corridors is pretty creepy and actually good. The only other part to this that works is the gore, which is the best part of the film and what really saves it. There's some pretty bloody kills in this, as there's several that are pulled into the machine and squished between the cogs, another one is folded while still alive into a pile of flesh the size of a folded shirt, another has their arm hacked off with an ax while stuck inside the machine and another one is ripped in half at the waist, leaving this one pretty satisfying in the gore department. These few issues, though, are all the film has going for it.The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of good things to this one, leaving it to have a couple big flaws. The most noticeable one is the film's utter boredom and dullness. That's mainly due to the film being way too long, forcing so many scenes to either take an eternity to get through or just play out way too long and become boring. The investigation is started after the policeman has an altercation with a pair of garbage-men that isn't necessary or included in the rest of the film, taking up a couple minutes of time with him yelling at them, only to get directed away and the incident is never brought up, mentioned or played up again, calling into question it's inclusion in the first place. Other scenes, including the homicide call while on the road and the never-ending talk about what the inclusion of a possessed ironing board in the facility or the need to keep it operating are just plain boring and are just way too long to get any meaning out of them. The film is littered with these scenes, because it's goofy and idiotic premise doesn't really have any opportunity for a lot of action and must be played out with the boredom in it's place. The overall premise to this is so goofy and idiotic that it's so hard to take seriously it falls on that alone. The concept behind it is unique, but it's simply not frightening in the slightest and becomes like a joke after awhile. There's also the fact that, simply remove the machine from the company after the accident for inspection and work continues while the movie's over after a few minutes. It's just not a strong enough idea to go for so long because it's easily solved, the central idea is just too goofy to take seriously and it never really feels like it can pad out the required time with what it has, forcing it to show terribly long sequences for no reason than to make it feel somewhat longer than it should. These here are what really hurt this one.The Final Verdict: Mainly hurt by a few facts, there's a couple things in here that's worthwhile to this, but it's just too flawed to count. Give it a shot if you're into these kinds of films, like the creative side or just find it interesting, otherwise stick to others out there that are more worthwhile than this one.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language

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. =)