The Mangler Reborn

While "The Mangler Reborn" is certainly not a masterpiece, it is better than what is reflected in most comments about the film. It is a rare example of a low budget horror film that is played totally straight, no humor and very little self-parody.

With a budget of just $85,000 they had to be very inventive so don't expect elaborate production design or special effects. The title character looks like a cafeteria dishwasher being operated by "Edward Scissorhands". They try to pass the thing off as sinister by always showing it in shadows. When a victim is fed to the thing they change to very tight shots of knives and clippers, trying to make it seem like they are part of the machine rather than being held by crew members off-camera. Obviously the film would benefit from a more elaborate and diabolical device, or at least one with some credibility.

But the Stephen King inspired premise is a good one and the first two thirds of the film set it all up very nicely. It is almost captivating for a while but finally runs out of gas and plods through the final 30 minutes.

An appliance repairman (Weston Blakesley) has acquired the cursed parts from the original "Mangler" (named for the old-style washing machine with external rollers to squeeze the water out of clothes) and is obsessively working to reinvent the lethal thing. Eventually he becomes possessed by the machine and more zombie than human. He must feed it humans because he needs to drink their "squeezins" to keep his zombie body from decaying.

Blakesley is quite credible as the slack jawed zombie who takes a rubber mallet on his repair calls and acquires his victims from among his customers. His life is complicated when a father and son burglar team (Reggie Bannister and Scott Speiser) attempt to rob his house and when his daughter comes for a visit.

Aimee Brooks gets a whole bunch of standard scream queen moments and is extremely attractive.

The main problem is that not enough happens to sustain an eighty-minute feature. Had a parallel story periodically cut in and built up a bit of suspense, "The Mangler Reborn" could have been a engaging little film.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

This movie unsettled and creeped me out a little, in spite of its problems.

I find it more challenging to appreciate a movie than to make fun of it. I save that for special occasions, like the "Omen" remake. So, briefly, here are the problems I had with the film: Some of the dialogue, makeup effects and sound effects in this film are hokey. But apart from that and I found no other major problems with the film, and I think it did its job.

Here was what I liked about "The Mangler Reborn": It has a genuinely claustrophobic setting, a creepy soundtrack, and a nasty attitude. Also of note, a majority of its blood, gore and dialogue is effective. The acting is even pretty good for a direct to video feature. Plus, Reggie Bannister's in it, and damn it, I like him.

6 stars out of 10. You might like it.

"The Mangler Reborn" is a million times better than the atrocious and unfortunate "The Mangler 2".

The plot: Hadley (Weston Blakesley) is a repairman. He finds pieces of the mangler machine and puts it together. He grows obsessed about it and starts going on a killing spree to feed the machine. His latest victim Jaime (Aimee Brooks) is trapped in his house. Can she escape before she's another body on the chopping block?

The pacing is slow,but the acting is pretty good. Reggie Bannister makes an appearance as Rick the house robber. In his limited screen time he makes you feel for his character. You can see that the directors really put their heart into the film.

In the end: The movie is scary, and there's some heavy gore scenes. It's worth seeing at least once.

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Even though all or almost all the action takes place inside one admittedly large detached house, this had the makings of an excellent horror film. Unfortunately, it falls far short.

From the title, this is an obvious sequel, albeit a belated one, it would lose nothing if there were some sort of tenuous explanation. Instead, all we see is the bad guy hardly uttering a word and walking around almost in a trance. There is a lot of blood and a lot of pain, but hardly anything else. Terribly disappointing.

The original film is based on a 1972 short story by Stephen King, a novelist who has a well-deserved reputation for horror. Alas, not every horror classic translates from the written word to celloloid, or whatever films are made of in the cyber-age.

Third entry in the Mangler series, the original being based on a Stephen King story. A middle-aged man becomes obsessed with the mangling machine, and has to kidnap young women and feed them to it. Most of the running time takes place in the guy's house, this does stifle it somewhat. There is enough gore to keep gorehounds happy, we get a gratuitous female shower scene early on (no doubt intended to stimulate interest), plus a few moments of (unintentional?) humour ("in this world there's only room for one asshole!"). Horror fans may recognise Reggie Bannister from the classic Phantasm, but sadly some of the acting is pretty wooden. Straight to video that serves as an adequate time filler if you are seeking a simple gory, horror flick. But it is nothing more than that.