1995 Robert Englund Movie With 27% On Rotten Tomatoes Is One Of Horror's Best Guilty Pleasures

While The Mangler is not remotely scary, the Stephen King adaptation is one of the most enjoyable guilty pleasures in star Robert Englund’s long screen CV. Numerous short stories have been adapted to the screen from legendary horror author Stephen King’s debut short story collection Night Shift. Some of these adaptations, like 1984’s Children of the Corn and 1991’s Sometimes They Come Back, went on to spawn franchises of their own. Others became podcasts, like “Strawberry Spring,” or in-name-only adaptations like 1992’s The Lawnmower Man.

However, few have a reputation as ignominious as 1995’s The Mangler. The Mangler had a lot going for it. Directed by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Tobe Hooper, the movie adaptation was based on King’s story and starredA Nightmare On Elm Street's Robert Englund as its villain and The Silence of The Lambs’ breakout star Ted Levine as its antihero. However, the story of a possessed laundry press was already faintly ridiculous when it was limited to King’s brief, blackly comic horror story. Its movie adaptation did not help matters.

The Mangler Is A Great Guilty Pleasure For Horror Movie Fans

1995’s Stephen King Adaptation Isn't Scary But It Is Hilarious

The Mangler is a genuinely hilarious viewing experience for horror fans, even if it isn’t remotely scary. The original story has the grain of an interesting idea at its core, although it is tough to make a killer laundry press seem scary. The most compelling idea in “The Mangler” is that, although the employees of Blue Ribbon Laundry may know the mangler is a murderous, cursed object, they are trapped by their low wages and forced to continue working for their tyrannical employer regardless.

Unfortunately, Hooper’s movie mangles this modicum of social commentary. His take on The Mangler turns the short story into an unintentionally funny whodunit starring Levine’s dazed detective and his hammy brother-in-law Mark, who just happens to be a demonologist and an expert in the occult. AlthoughThe Mangler doesn’t work as a horror movie, it does excel as a guilty pleasure. It is impossible not to laugh at the sight of the laundry press breaking free from its moorings and following the heroes into the sewers beneath the factory in the wild finale.

The Mangler's Sequels Aren't As Much Fun As The First Movie

The Mangler’s Sequels Lose The Original Movie’s Thread Of Manic Black Humor

Meanwhile, the sight of Levine constantly gulping down antacids while England provides a performance that makes the most overblown Nightmare On Elm Street sequels seem subtle makes The Mangler a genuinely fun watch. As a horror fan’s guilty pleasure, the adaptation balances laughably self-serious moments with a winking sense of black humor that makes Hooper’s adaptation almost feel like a straight-faced self-parody. Unfortunately, its sequels failed to strike the same balance.

The Mangler 2 is about a killer computer virus, while 2005’s The Mangler Reborn brings back the original machine but fails to do anything fun with it.

Although The Mangler’s sequels share the movie’s title, viewers shouldn’t expect too much in the way of continuity. The Mangler 2 is about a killer computer virus, while 2005’s The Mangler Reborn brings back the original machine but fails to do anything fun with it. As such, the sequels to Robert Englund’s critically panned Stephen King adaptation are just as bad as The Mangler, but nowhere near as unintentionally fun.