By: Lyle Henretty
The Mangler: 3/5
Extras: 1.5/5
The Movie
It's proselytizing to the Lady's Guild to sing the praises of
pre "Lord of the Rings" (and prestige) New Line Cinema to the horror
sect that know full well which razor-clawed dream-stalker brought the
studio into the money and ratcheted the Hollywood slasher from object of
fear to pop-icon. But now, post-Frodo, it's easy to forget just how
many trash pics New Line produced, presumably to keep the electricity on
and pay the bills. One such offering, finally released on DVD, is worth
a second look to those of us who dismissed it during its extremely brief
1994 release: Tobe Hooper's "The Mangler."
"The Mangler" was marketed as the melding of three important
horror minds, in the form of Hooper (director of the original "The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre" and "Poltergeist"), writer Stephen King (who penned
the short story of the same name), and Freddy Krueger himself, actor
Robert England. When I first saw this movie in the theater (I think it
closed moments after I threw away my popcorn bucket), I hated it, and
for years it remained on a short list with the likes of "Battlefield
Earth" and "Austin Powers in Goldmember," as one of the greatest cinema
failures of all time.
However, upon review, the movie was only disappointed because,
at the tender age of 14, I had just discovered TCM, and I still kinda
wanted to be Freddy when I grew up. The outlandish premise of the film,
and the obscene over acting and seemingly odd casting of Ted Levine
(Buffalo Bill from "The Silence of the Lambs") as a disheveled homicide
detective, is actually all pretty entertaining. No classic, "The
Mangler" is not good by any objective standards, but it's a fun little
gory time-killer with a possessed refrigerator and an evil laundry
press. That can't be all bad.
Most of the action takes place in large industrial laundry, with
a great gothic press (do these places still exist?) in a quaint New
England community. The laundry is owned by a maniacal old coot (really,
really maniacal) who hobbles around in leg braces and smashes his metal
crutches when he gets angry. From the beginning, his anger is mostly
directed at his workers, which inexplicably appear to be failed models.
He can't stand it when they accidentally get too close to the machine
and it, uh, eats them.
Levine, attempting to solve these mysterious "accidents," faces
a small-town bureaucracy where no one seems to care that their mothers,
wives, and daughters are systematically being pressed into a laundry
machine. The story devolves quickly into the occult, ritual sacrifice,
and lines like "Have you ever considered that the laundry machine is
possessed?" spoken grave seriousness. The gore is plentiful and
extreme, as each victim is pressed, steamed, and neatly folded right
before our blissful, peeping eyes.
Englund is wildly over the top, flailing his arms and mugging so
hard his old-timer makeup nearly falls off. It ain't exactly the way
Kevin Spacey would have handled the role, but that's why we love Englund
in the first place. He doesn't so much chew scenery as swallow it
whole, leaving only the wily Levine with anything to do. Levine's
gruff, mumbly performance, which I took to be a bizarre Buffalo-Bill
throwback ten years ago, is actually just as over-the-top as Englund,
but with the volume lowered. He plays his detective with humor,
understanding how absurd the film is and that the only way to come out
on top is not to take the role too seriously. Hooper's directing is
still a disappointment, however, with none of his gritty flair or sense
of timing, the film is nothing more than straight-to-video fare.
The DVD
Pretty bare-bones this time out, New Line offers "The Mangler"
in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, with a clear picture and Dolby Digital sound.
The fake screaming sounds as good as it's going to get. Extras include
the original trailer, which is always worth a look (it heavily plays on
the "3 masters of horror" bit), and a "alternate edit comparison" that
takes the place of an "unrated" version of the film. The screen, split
across the middle, shows a scene from the theatrical cut and another
"edit" at the same time. All three scenes are short (about 2 minutes
a piece) and really only add a few seconds of gore to each scene. Most
impressive is the first scene, which shows a kindly old employee being
devoured by the machine. It adds a few close-ups on her arm and torso
as it's pressed like a sheet, and revels a few extra seconds in blood
gushing on her co-workers. Quality stuff, but not worth much for only a
few extra seconds of footage.
Also included are two previews for other New Line films. Both a
retro preview for "The Hidden" and that oldie-but-goodie
"Gremlins"-gone-bad pic, "Critters," are a lot of fun. Studios
should dig into their archives more, it's both great promotion and cool
for the fans of some of these slightly-forgotten gores of yore.
Score: 6 / 10
