The Mangler (1995), dir. Tobe Hooper, Allied Film/Distant Horizon
Ah, Mr. Hooper. Was there ever a director with such an uneven filmography? Surely having him adapt a Stephen King short story would be a good thing, right?
Gartley's Blue Ribbon Laundry is a deathtrap. The press is hopelessly out of date, the place looks like it was built before OSHA was even conceived of, and the amount of injures it produces have given it the nickname 'the Mangler'. The latest victim Mrs. Frawley (Vera Blacker) gets folded and pressed neatly when she drops her antacid tablets into the machine and tries to get them out.
This outrages Mr. Gartley (Robert Englund); mostly because they have to turn the press off to hose what's left of Frawley out of there. Time is money, you know.
This attitude does little to endear him to Officer Hunton (Ted Levine), not that Gartley cares. As much as he'd love to bust the guy, there's little Hunton can do. He still hangs out with his former brother-in-law Mark (Daniel Matmor), who fancies himself a demonologist. After Hunton gets called out to a case where a missing child was found suffocated in an old fridge, he takes a sledgehammer to it in a rage. This produces a freaky light show as blue light explodes out of the machine.
When he learns that the fridge used to be in the laundry, Hunton figures this might be worth investigating. Mark suggests an exorcism and they attempt that night. Things go pretty smooth, but remember Mrs. Frawley? Seems that brand of antacid uses belladonna as an ingredient.
AKA the Hand of Glory, pretty much the worst possible thing you can use in an exorcism.
Can they stop the now enraged laundry press?
Disappointing; the story was fine but there is no way it could have worked as a full length feature. Adding as much detail as they did does nothing but raise more questions. The actors do a decent job but nothing to write home about.
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