The Mangler (1995)

Rating: D-

Dir: Tobe Hooper
Star: Robert Englund, Ted Levine, Daniel Matmor

It’s hard to take any film seriously where a major protagonist is a possessed iron, even if admittedly it’s a somewhat larger than average model, being fed with 16-year olds by evil laundry owner Robert Englund. You can spot the plot elements a long way in advance, and there’s a curious lack of era, which could be any time from the 1930’s on. The gore is infrequent, but copious and effective when it appears, even if getting sucked through a steam press miraculously leaves your skull uncrushed. Such incongruities indicate where this is coming from, and the plot is both ludicrous and slipshod. There is a certain Grand Guignol charm about the climax, however, when the industrial equipment starts stalking its victims through the laundry. Laugh? I did.