Review: The Mangler (1995)

The first movie for this year's October marathon has some pedigree:  Directed by Tobe Hooper (who directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) from a short story written by Stephen King, with main characters played by Robert Englund (of A Nightmare on Elm Street fame) and Ted Levine (a few short years after his The Silence of the Lambs performance).  This had all the makings of becoming a horror classic.  However, audience response was muted and critics were savage: it was only in recent years that it has emerged as a cult favorite.  All of this seems surprising, until you read the plot summary and discover that this movie is about a demonically possessed laundry press.

You read that correctly. I have read the short story (which varies slightly from the movie, but only a little bit) and mostly wanted to check out this movie to see just how much they would adhere to the premise.  Would they be true to the story like the adaptation of Carrie?  Would it be similar but notably different like The Shining?  Or would just the name be used and the story not be related at all, a la The Lawnmower Man?  I got my answer, and now I grapple with how I feel about the movie.

The movie isn't bad by any stretch.  England hams it up (complimentary) as our villain, Bill Gartley.  Levine also hams it up (derogatory) as our protagonist, Officer John Hunton.  The movie gives the gore fans what they want with multiple people pulled through the laundry press - with the film happily showing us the results.  The plot, while ridiculous, is played straight and explained well enough, even if the ending of the film feels a bit unearned.  It's very much a mixed bag in the truest sense.

I'm not quite sure it deserves cult status, but worse movies have attained the same so I can't be too worked over it.  It's just weird that this one made it to that level when it isn't really that campy.  I suppose some of that cult comes from devotees of Stephen King or fans of director Hooper, but the former has better adaptations and latter has better films that this.

It's acceptable, I think.  For every good decision there is a terrible one - sometimes at the same time involving the same thing! - but it doesn't do anything truly terrible throughout.  It's just... a random horror movie.  No movie is so bad that everyone hates it - there is always at least one devoted fan - but I have seen many enthusiastic recommendations for this one.  And I can normally figure out where the cult sprang from, even if I don't feel the need to join.  This one has flummoxed me though.

Would I recommend this to others?  I don't know.  It's not the worst way to spend an hour and a half, but I doubt it would ever be the first movie I would grab.  But who knows?  Stranger films than this one have moved into the rotation.

6 out of 10.