I really wanted to like "The Mangler". Stephen King, as a struggling young father and aspiring author in the 1960s, took a grueling job in a sweatshop laundry where, to pass the time and exercise his imagination, he fantasized about the hulking machinery there as being an evil entity, waiting to kill. (Remember as a child being apprehensive about walking past the furnace in the basement?) Well, he did pen "The Mangler", a masterful short story about just that, a possessed washing machine, and made it a minor classic. Now here comes Hollywood in the 1990s, hanging its story lines not on mood and atmosphere but on in-your-face special effects and adolescent gore. This film is an insult to King's pioneering short story, and to the set designer who indeed created a worthy villain in the brooding machine monster. "The Mangler" is only lifted off the rock-bottom 1 rating to a 3 because of its well-done sets. Otherwise, just read the terrific original short story, and leave this bomb out to dry.
Review of The Mangler
