The Mangler: David Cantrell’s review
This movie was difficult to watch. Reading the jacket cover you think, “wow, a horror movie about a possessed laundry machine? kick ass!” But then you actually watch it and you begin to demand the world give you those 106 minutes back. OK, let’s get in to the movie.
First, a possessed laundry folding machine? Are you kidding. I’d say it’s worse than Killdozer. What moron can’t get away from a STATIONARY OBJECT? So what if it’s possessed? Family Guy had it right when they had the short scene with the Stephen King parody pitching his idea for a story involving an evil lamp monster. Then he just asks for money.
It’s set in Maine, I think. Every Stephen King movie is set in Maine, which no one can relate to because you aren’t allowed in Maine if you’re an outsider. Stranger than that is the choice of props for the movie. You can’t really place the time period because the cop drives a Jeep Cherokee SUV and has a computer, but the laundry machine and facility look like something from the 1920s. Eh?
Robert Englund stars as the owner of this machine and he does what he can with the part, which isn’t much. His character in V was better. They did manage to find a Jesus look-alike to play the pot smoking hippie that happens to practice witchcraftery. Yeah, he gets cut in half by the laundry folding machine.
Oh, the we have title point was reached when pot-smoking Jesus was reminiscing about his job on that machine. He says it’s called the Mangler. Yeah, sounds fun!
I give this movie 2/10 because it was just plain bad. There were only 3 sets. And Ted Levine’s voice. Come on.