Stephen King’s short story “The Mangler” really shouldn’t work as well as it does. The fifth tale in his first collection, Night Shift, follows an industrial laundry press that somehow becomes possessed by a demon and begins flattening laundry workers like king-sized sheets. First published in a 1972 issue of Cavalier, the story contains the kind of grisly gore and fast scares that would keep readers turning the pages even when running alongside ads for edible panties and sex hotlines. With a gory premise and loose occult references, “The Mangler” may not be the most high-brow story King has ever published, but it is 19 pages of sheer horror perfection. Part urban legend, part splatterpunk lite, the story reads like a procedural cop drama from hell as Detective John Hunton (Ted Levine in the film) tries to stop a series of grisly deaths at the hands (er… gears) of a sinister machine.
- 6/6/2023
- by Jenn Adams
- bloody-disgusting.com
Happy #RobertEnglundDay!
About one third of the 150+ acting credits accumulated over the course of Robert Englund’s 50-year career fall under the horror genre. Screambox is streaming five of them, along with the all-new documentary, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story.
Here are six Robert Englund movies you can watch on Screambox now…
Galaxy of Terror
Before moving to Elm Street, Englund went to space for 1981’s Galaxy of Terror, the first of two back-to-back Alien knock-offs produced by Roger Corman. The film follows a ragtag spaceship crew on a rescue mission to a barren planet, where they encounter a deadly creature. In a slight twist on Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror classic, Galaxy of Terror uses its victims’ own fears against them — which, incidentally, is similar to Freddy’s modus operandi.
Englund plays the ship’s second technical officer, Ranger, but he’s not the only notable...
About one third of the 150+ acting credits accumulated over the course of Robert Englund’s 50-year career fall under the horror genre. Screambox is streaming five of them, along with the all-new documentary, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story.
Here are six Robert Englund movies you can watch on Screambox now…
Galaxy of Terror
Before moving to Elm Street, Englund went to space for 1981’s Galaxy of Terror, the first of two back-to-back Alien knock-offs produced by Roger Corman. The film follows a ragtag spaceship crew on a rescue mission to a barren planet, where they encounter a deadly creature. In a slight twist on Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror classic, Galaxy of Terror uses its victims’ own fears against them — which, incidentally, is similar to Freddy’s modus operandi.
Englund plays the ship’s second technical officer, Ranger, but he’s not the only notable...
- 6/6/2023
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
The trope of cursed objects is a unique corner of horror. Not to be confused with killer dolls and mannequins (that's a whole other niche), we're talking about your ordinary household objects come to life to wreck people's lives (and sometimes murder them) in the most bonkers, off-the-wall, and outrageous ways. Perhaps a comet or asteroid crashes into earth, causing a strange transference of energy, or an experiment goes horribly wrong. Sometimes, it's a phenomenon with no logical explanation, so it's even more difficult to defeat.
Cursed and killer objects in the movies ebb and flow with time. The 1970s and '80s were a particularly hot time for the subgenre, featuring a slew of deadly inanimate objects like a killer bed (more on that later), a killer car ("Christine"), a killer elevator ("The Lift"), and a killer lamp ("Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes"). Cursed objects were less prevalent in the '90s,...
Cursed and killer objects in the movies ebb and flow with time. The 1970s and '80s were a particularly hot time for the subgenre, featuring a slew of deadly inanimate objects like a killer bed (more on that later), a killer car ("Christine"), a killer elevator ("The Lift"), and a killer lamp ("Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes"). Cursed objects were less prevalent in the '90s,...
- 2/15/2023
- by Bee Delores
- Slash Film
Outside of John Carpenter, there may be no director whose filmography has been better served by Scream Factory than Tobe Hooper. Though his post-Texas Chain Saw career has rarely gotten much respect in the past, Scream Factory’s special edition Blu-ray releases of titles like The Funhouse, Lifeforce, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, and his remake of Invaders from Mars have gone a long way towards making horror fans revisit and reconsider a number of his other films, hopefully learning to appreciate his talent and his genius in the process. The label’s imprint is something of a seal of approval, and giving that seal to those Hooper films previously dismissed as schlock has improved the reputation of the late, great Master of Horror arguably more than any of his ’70s and ’80s contemporaries.
One Hooper film still in need of a widespread critical reappraisal is 1995’s The Mangler, his...
One Hooper film still in need of a widespread critical reappraisal is 1995’s The Mangler, his...
- 1/14/2019
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
This year, I’ve dedicated myself to catching up on the work of Stephen King. His books have always been a bit of a blind spot for me, beginning when I was a kid and thought reading for pleasure was a laughable concept. As I got older, King was so ingrained in horror pop culture that I was never curious enough to try his work beyond a couple of false starts with The Stand (it’s so looooong). Recently, however, as I’ve finally become aware of the large chasm between experiencing art third hand and immersing myself in it, I’ve made it a point to start looping back around with heavy hitters like King. Of course, reading some of his classics like Carrie and Pet Sematary bring on the urge to visit the film adaptations since I haven’t seen Pet Sematary in years, and somehow, I’ve never seen Carrie at all.
- 5/30/2018
- by Bryan Christopher
- DailyDead
Rebecca Lea Oct 2, 2017
Our lookbacks at the screen adaptations of Stephen King arrive at The Mangler's house...
The film: The Blue Ribbon Laundry houses a big industrial press called The Mangler. When an accident occurs involving Sherry (Vanessa Pike), it becomes apparent that the press is out for blood. Officer John Hunton (Ted Levine) gets involved after another employee is killed and his friend Mark Jackson (Daniel Matmor) introduces the idea of demonic possession. Overseeing everything is the Laundry’s mysterious owner and Sherry’s uncle, William Gartley (Robert Englund).
See related The horror movie undertones of The Goonies Bonnie & Clyde, and the film critic who helped change its fate
When it comes to adapting Stephen King films, a horror pedigree usually helps. The man himself is handy to have around when it comes to screenplay duties. When you’ve got directors like George A. Romero and John Carpenter on board,...
Our lookbacks at the screen adaptations of Stephen King arrive at The Mangler's house...
The film: The Blue Ribbon Laundry houses a big industrial press called The Mangler. When an accident occurs involving Sherry (Vanessa Pike), it becomes apparent that the press is out for blood. Officer John Hunton (Ted Levine) gets involved after another employee is killed and his friend Mark Jackson (Daniel Matmor) introduces the idea of demonic possession. Overseeing everything is the Laundry’s mysterious owner and Sherry’s uncle, William Gartley (Robert Englund).
See related The horror movie undertones of The Goonies Bonnie & Clyde, and the film critic who helped change its fate
When it comes to adapting Stephen King films, a horror pedigree usually helps. The man himself is handy to have around when it comes to screenplay duties. When you’ve got directors like George A. Romero and John Carpenter on board,...
- 10/1/2017
- Den of Geek
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