The Mangler (1995)

When it comes to supernatural horror, possessions are one of the major culprits. A person becomes the host vessel for a demonic force that wants nothing more than to torment people. There’s also frequently a Biblical connection with possession stories. How better to defeat a demonic force than to use the word of God. I know that ignores the many other religions and beliefs in the world for Christian ideals, but that seems to be how the possession story works.

Possessions don’t only happen to people, though. There are other ways that a demonic force can possess a vessel to torment people. The vessel could be another animal. A dog, a cat, or a goat could be possessed. A demonic force could use a pet as a vessel to break down the owner’s mental state by exploiting the love they have for that pet. That’s not even the strangest way that a demon could find a vessel. It could also use an inanimate object as a host from which it can terrorize the world.

This week’s movie, The Mangler, involved a possessed object. Office John Hunton (Ted Levine) was called to the scene of a grisly accident at Blue Ribbon Laundry. A woman fell into a folding machine and was killed when her body was folded like a clean sheet. After seeing laundry owner Bill Gartley (Robert Englund) quickly start the machine again, with minimal investigation into what went wrong, Hunton kept an eye on the place. He soon realized that there was some sort of evil in the machine, an evil that wanted a virgin sacrifice, one that Gartley would be happy to provide.

Stephen King wrote The Mangler as a short story and released it as part of his Night Shift anthology in 1978. It was one of many Stephen King tales that involved a possessed object. In this case, it was an industrial laundry machine that folded clean sheets. The movie expanded on the story, but the essentials were the same. Nightshade and the blood of a virgin were still there to bring it to life. And, much like the story it was based on, the movie featured the machine breaking way from it’s moorings to attack people outside the laundromat. It was all there.

The main problem with The Mangler, however, was a problem that many of the possessed object stories have. A stationary object doesn’t strike fear in audiences. If the object can’t move, it can’t physically do anything to people unless they approach it. The laundry machine couldn’t have folded the woman unless she was leaning against it and reached for her pills that had fallen on it. It couldn’t have broken a hose and burned a woman unless she was working at it. If people stayed away from the machine, it wouldn’t be able to get them.

Well, it mostly wouldn’t be able to get them. There were two instances when things changed. The first was when some part of the demonic force was transferred into an old refrigerator that was shipped elsewhere. That fridge was able to trap a child inside and suffocate them. The other instance was at the conclusion of the movie when John Hunton was trying to save Gartley’s virgin niece. The machine got a quick taste before Hunton pulled her out, and it came off their moorings to chase them through the bowels of the laundromat. It became the creature that it never was before.

The stationary type of threat was present in Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes, as well. After the haunting in Amityville, a bunch of priests entered the house to exorcise any remaining demons. One of the demonic forces transferred its being into a crazy looking lamp while a priest looked on. That lamp was shipped cross-country to California, allowing the demon to torment another family. It took them a while to figure out the haunting was coming from the lamp. When they did, they tossed it right out the window. I’m not sure how that was going to solve anything. It clearly didn’t, with the movie ending on a cliffhanger of the family cat now being possessed.

The idea of a possessed object would permeate throughout the Amityville franchise, through both the original run, and the many unassociated Amityville movies that followed. The lamp was able to use its powers to torment people. It would be followed by a possessed clock that could manipulate time (I still think that’s a cool wrinkle), a possessed mirror, a possessed dollhouse that could manipulate space, and a possessed toy monkey. When the simple haunted land wouldn’t suffice, the possessed item was a crutch that the series heavily leaned on.

Going back Stephen King, he also heavily relied on possessed objects throughout his writing. Or, maybe relied upon isn’t the right term. He wrote a great many other stories and novels that weren’t about possessed items. But he would always come back to that idea. He seemed fascinated by the idea that a simple item could be the cause of so much terror in someone’s life. The Mangler was just one story that hit on that theme. Christine had a possessed car. He also wrote Word Processor of the Gods, a story about a word processor that granted the user the ability to rewrite history. Not quite possession, but a super-powered everyday item.

Another big one from Mr. King was Trucks, a short story that has been adapted to film twice. The most notable adaptation was Maximum Overdrive, the only movie that Stephen King directed. It involved a group of people who were trapped in a truck stop while possessed machinery, mostly trucks, surrounded them. There was only one machine that was possessed in The Mangler. Maximum Overdrive was about a bunch of machines being possessed. Trucks were possessed. Arcade games were possessed. Lawnmowers, a bascule bridge, and a pop machine were possessed. And all the machines wanted to do was kill humans or use humans to aid the survival of the machines.

It feels like Stephen King has a fascination with inanimate objects coming to life to fight back against the people that use them. His writing is the everyday horror version of the impending sentience of artificial intelligence. Some people write about robots feeling like slaves, fighting back against oppressors. Stephen King writes about trucks and laundry presses that come to life and take the lives of the people who use and abuse them. Same basic idea approached differently and played out differently.

Many other writers have also taken that approach to their storytelling. Rather than take on the moral conundrum of artificial intelligence and sentience, the writers will create evil, possessed objects that attack people. Why? Because the idea of humans losing control of the comfortable lives they live, atop the hierarchy of the world… It frightens those same humans. What if life wasn’t as cozy and comfortable as your couch as you read or watch something? People fear that feeling. They fear losing the power to take things for granted. These types of stories really nail that idea.

Now it’s time for a few notes:

• I mentioned or alluded to a few other movies I’ve covered for Sunday “Bad” Movies. They were Maximum Overdrive (week 479), Amityville4: The Evil Escapes (week 500), Amityville: It’s About Time (week 500), Amityville: A New Generation (week 500), Amityville Dollhouse (week 500), and Amityville Toybox (week 500).
• Robert Englund made his third Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance in The Mangler. His other appearances were in Wishmaster (week 410) and Zombie Strippers! (week 463).
• Jeremy Crutchley has been in Death Race: Inferno (week 9), The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior (week 380), and The Mangler.
• The final third appearance was Demetre Philips, who was in The Mangler, Stone Cold (week 423), and Zapped! (week 438).
• Next up, we’ve got Danny Keogh, who appeared in Death Race 2 (week 9) and The Mangler.
• Ted Levine was the star of The Mangler. He had a supporting role in Wild Wild West (week 296).
• Ron Smerczak was in both The Mangler and Pets to the Rescue (week 351).
• Finally, Adrian Waldron made a second Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance in The Mangler, after appearing in Sniper: Reloaded (week 506).
• Have you seen The Mangler? What did you think of it? What other movies about possessed objects did I miss, outside of the serial killers in objects movies? Share your thoughts with me on Twitter or in the comments.
• If there’s a movie that you think I should check out for Sunday “Bad” Movies, tell me about it. Hit me up on Twitter with suggestions. Or you can just find me in the comments and let me know there. Either way works.
• Now let’s look at what’s coming up. The next post, which should also go up tonight, will be about a little movie called Yoga Hosers. This is my catch-up day, so three posts are going out at once. You’ll find out about next week’s movie soon enough. See you then.