Synopsis
When an accident involving a folding machine at an old laundry happens, detective John Hunton investigates. While he tries to solve the mystery, Bill Gartley, the owner, wants to find new victims for his machine.
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Cast
- Ted LevineOfficer John Hunton
- Robert EnglundWilliam 'Bill' Gartley
- Daniel MatmorMark Jackson
- Vanessa PikeSherry Ouelette
- Jeremy CrutchleyJ.J.J. Pictureman / Mortician
- Demetre PhillipsGeorge Stanner
- Vera BlackerAdelle Frawley
- Ashley HaydenAnnette Gillian
- Danny KeoghHerb Diment
- Ted Le PlatDoctor Ramos
Recommendations
- 40
Empire
Lame and clunky in many places which doesn't manage to save this bizarre premise from dull absurdity. - 40
TV Guide Magazine
The best part of the movie is the fetid, oppressive atmosphere Hooper works up inside the sweatshop that evocatively serves as an industrial hell. The Mangler itself is an imposing creation, and its gory activities (which are more so on an unrated video version) pack an occasional chill, but too much of the movie is devoted to slack plotting and overstated acting. - 30
Time Out London
One would expect a horror movie about a possessed laundry-press to put the audience through the wringer. Instead, this tedious Stephen King adaptation takes the two-dimensional characters of the source story and squashes them even flatter. - 20
Variety
With its clunky narrative and lack of solid scares or gory effusions until the obligatory all-stops-out climax, pic ends up with little to excite fans of “Elm Street”-style shockers or Hooper’s own “Poltergeist.” - 10
The New York Times
It is not a compliment to suggest that a demonically possessed piece of machinery embarked on a bloodthirsty rampage has more personality than most of the flesh-and-blood characters in The Mangler, a horror movie based on a Stephen King story. - 10
Los Angeles Times
Hooper could have also made at least a token attempt to create one interesting or sympathetic character and shot more than one take per scene--even by horror standards, the acting here is lame. Call it "The Bungler." - 0
Austin Chronicle
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. Forget The Mangler. Go do your laundry instead. - 0
Washington Post
Adapted by Hooper, Stephen Brooks and Peter Welbeck from a King short story, 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. The movie looks as if it's gone through its namesake, the five-ton, 40-foot-long Hadley Watson Model-6 Steam Ironer & Folder. Even the least demanding of genre fans will be hard-pressed to tremble in its presence.
