Tobe Hooper and Robert Englund Came Together for This Wacky Stephen King Adaptation

It’s always amazing when film icons unite on a single project, especially when they’re members of the illustrious, terrifying horror genre. Viewers are lucky to see two horror titans come together to create a truly terrifying story, so many will be thrilled to learn that there’s a film that features three of the medium’s biggest names. They just might be a little confused once they learn what movie managed to bring together such cinematic royalty. 1995’s The Mangler focuses on the titular washing machine, a mechanic behemoth that is brought to life by satanic magic before sucking people into its whirling gears and terrorizing a small town. It’s a truly wild premise that is based on a story by Stephen King, directed by Tobe Hooper, and stars Robert Englund. These three true horror legends are creators who have revolutionized the genre in every way imaginable and decided to come together to bring this uncanny tale to life. This movie showcases what makes each of them the legends they are as the trio came together to create a true vision of fear — and an immense amount of camp.

The Mangler (1995)

In The Mangler, a string of horrific deaths at a laundry facility leads Detective John Hunton to a chilling discovery: a demonically possessed laundry press machine. As Hunton and his friend Mark Jackson delve into the mystery, they uncover an ancient curse that has awakened the malevolent force within the machine. Together, they must find a way to exorcise the demon before it claims more victims.

Studio(s)

Allied Film , Distant Horizon

Stephen King, Tobe Hooper, and Robert Englund Are a Legendary Horror Trio

Long before The Mangler, these men had spent many years and numerous projects establishing themselves as horror trailblazers. Fans will recognize Hooper’s unique style of filmmaking immediately; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre director imbues each scene with an unsettling eeriness that turns the laundry factory where most of the film takes place into an eerie dungeon with a daunting mechanical monster at its center. As he did in all of his horror films, Hooper curates a subtle sense of dread in each shot, with moments like the infamous hammer scene in his seminal, cannibalistic horror punctuating this underlying creepiness with moments of pure terror.

His directing is aided by the exceptional acting of Robert Englund, the original Freddy Kreuger actor whose performance in A Nightmare on Elm Street made this franchise the cinematic powerhouse it is today. Even outside of this series, whether it be playing a racist zombie in 2001 Maniacs or an odd Professor in Urban Legend, he embodies both deep terror and raucous comedy as maniacal killers with a giddy love for torturing innocents. These men working together is already extraordinary, and it’s only made better by the fact that they united to perform a work by the most famous horror author of all time: Stephen King.

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Stephen King has written some of the scariest stories of all time. The author altered the genre forever by thinking of some of the most ridiculous nightmares and transcribing them in utterly terrifying ways. This unique brand of uncanny fear is present throughout The Mangler, a short story whose adaptation follows the original plot closely; police officer John Hunton (Ted Levine) investigates a strange death at a local laundry factory owned by the crotchety Bill Gartley (Englund in amazing old age makeup), with the man wondering how the building’s gigantic laundry press could inhale a woman before flattening and folding her in a stomach-churning scene of gore. His investigation spirals out into town-wide conspiracies, demonic sacrifices of young virgins, and the haunting realization that the press in question may be more bloodthirsty than anyone could have imagined. In lesser hands, this plot could have produced a barely scary, easily forgettable schlock fest filled with weird ideas and no follow-through. Instead, Hooper and Englund commit fully to King’s story, their collaboration making a genuinely scary and deeply unnerving film, establishing a sense of campy terror that many films can only hope to replicate today.

‘The Mangler’ Turns an Unlikely Object Into a Terrifying Villain

Works by Stephen King are famously hard to adapt, with The Mangler being one of the few able to capture most of the author’s original plots in a legitimately frightening way. It accomplishes this because of one thing: commitment. The filmmakers and cast (especially the ridiculously devilish Englund) display a clear earnestness toward the story, understanding the horror of King’s original tale and carrying through the writer’s special talent of making the most benign things horrifying. While his original plot is a frightening model, Hooper (who co-wrote the script) envisions the central washing machine as a kind of chained-up monster, turning it from a simple object into a hulking beast through ingenious camera work. Through the genuine fear of its actors and truly gruesome moments of gore — watching a man be folded like a shirt is not an image that viewers will quickly forget — the movie imbues this strange focal point with a terrifying sense of danger, somehow making a thing as mundane as a household appliance into a demonic being audiences will actually be scared of.

There is a thriving subgenre of unexpected things becoming raving killers. While there are many stories of brutal machines like M3GAN and Child’s Play, thrillers like Slotherhouse and Slaxx have attempted (to varying success) to make their central monsters horrifying despite how wacky they initially appear. Whether intentional or not, these earnest attempts to subvert expectations ring back to The Mangler’s turning a once-stagnant object into an underappreciated horror legend.

Hooper, Englund, and King are all renowned for their craft, with each man committing himself fully to whatever project is in front of him. It’s that dedication to the genre’s ability to make anything scary that allowed each to elevate this story to unimaginable heights, with Englund especially offering multiple scenes reinforcing the lingering fear that persists throughout the film. The celebrated performer presents a campy, hilariously evil villain through the leering eyes and harsh voice of Gartley, but just like the film itself, his goofy exterior has an underlying evil. Whether it be the man circling a young woman, mockingly terrorizing her with each word, or expressing in great detail how ruthlessly he perceives the dozens of young people he’s fed to The Mangler throughout the years, Englund’s acting encapsulates the ever-present eeriness that makes the movie such an uncomfortable watch. His devotion is matched by that of Hooper and King, with each person’s wealth of talent contributing to this tale that surprises all not only with its premise but with how effectively it establishes a slimy feeling of unease in every moment.

‘The Mangler’ Showcases the Commitment of Hooper, Englund, and King

A big name doesn’t automatically make a project good, meaning that The Mangler wasn’t immediately solidified as a great film just because of the famous creators behind it. This is attested to by the ongoing defamation of the movie, with most review sites rating it and its strange premise low. But too often people’s critiques begin and end with an admittedly ridiculous concept, pigeonholing the film as a laughable outlier in three men’s stellar careers — failing to truly see the movie for the hidden gem that it is. With Hooper’s directing, Englund’s acting, and King’s story, this project is filled with a nonstop sense of unnerving anxiety that succeeds both as a horror film and also as a spotlight on what made each creator famous in the first place. It’s not perfect, but any horror fan who trusts the works of these three should know that any project with them attached must be something special — and The Mangler is no different.

The Mangler is available to rent on Amazon in the U.S.

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