Years ago, when I first moved to Bangor, Maine, there was a place called the New Franklin Laundry. It was a monstrous brick building, decrepit in its age, barely held together by a century worth of chemicals and grime. It closed shortly after my arrival, and once it was torn down the EPA determined that nothing could be built on the site for a decade. The business had poisoned the very ground it stood on. When writing The Mangler, King talked about working at such a place, and for all I know it could’ve been the same. The setting, much like Graveyard Shift’s mill, is an excellent setting for a horror story, but honestly it is one of my least favorite things he’s ever written. I’m all for blood thirsty machinery, but the thought of a laundry press breaking free from a building and rampaging through town was just too much to accept.
Luckily, Tobe Hooper hasn’t met an outrageous premise that he found unfilmable. While this is a far cry from his career highs (Poltergeist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) it’s not his worst either. However, one cannot go into this movie expecting anything serious, despite some of the three different writers’ attempts to witchcraft the movie up in realistic ways.
First of all, it’s hard not to take one look at Robert Englund’s Bill Gartley and realize “over the top” isn’t a dirty word in the film. Looking like Montgomery Burns with a sadistic streak and leg braces, his one eyed titan of small town industry has made a deal with “the beast” and isn’t going to let a little thing like workers safety, or even the grisly death of a few employee’s get in the way of his profit. His family has owned the town for years, so he isn’t the littlest bit afraid when local gruff cop John Hunton (Ted Levine) comes knocking on doors. John’s a straight shooting cop, angry at the world, he’ll be damned if he’ll start believing the new age bullshit that his friend Mark Jackson (Daniel Matmor) spews on a regular basis. Even when he’s required to take a sledge hammer to a haunted antique ice box (yes you read that right) he still isn’t ready to believe that dark forces are at play.
Some can say that this film, even with it’s clumsiness, is a stinging indictment of industrial labor, but I’m thinking that might be too much of a stretch. The film does it’s best to show you that true evil never dies, it’s only transferred, because people in power love to stay in power, but it falls a bit short for me. At an hour and forty five minutes it’s about twenty minutes too long, and the “serious” tone it attempts at times should’ve given way to straight up camp.
Rightfully so, the Mangler is the star of the show. I’ve never seen a turn of the century laundry press up close, and after looking at the chains, gears, and rough edges of the Mangler, I’m not sure I ever want to. It’s very existence is enough to fill me with dread, and were I to operate one I’m quite certain I’d end up losing a body part. There’s a reason safety measures came into play, and I don’t think the blood of a virgin and some sinister magic had anything to do with it. And sadly, much like the book, the ending goes a little off the rails.
The Mangler is a cheesy D movie, enjoyable if you’re in the right mood, but not ready for B level yet.
“Beware of people with missing parts!”
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
Today, I went to the beach with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is entirely off topic but I had to tell someone!