The Mangler 4K 1995

As a huge fan of Stephen King’s work—including his “Great and Terrible” Pet Sematary—I was eager to find out just how the director managed to stretch a short story into a 106-minute movie.

My fears were confirmed: the story was padded out into a feature-length film with fluff and unnecessary details. It’s worth acknowledging that the very idea of a secret society in the town (which wasn’t mentioned at all in the story) had a lot of potential, but it wasn’t developed at all in the film. Overall, the film adaptation leaves a somewhat unfinished impression; it seems that certain individual threads woven by the screenwriters into King’s original text are lost and cut off without any logic. For example, the character of the photographer could have been portrayed in a more favorable and interesting light.

The “King of Horror’s” mystical conciseness is marred by drawn-out moments and lengthy conversations among the characters. For example, the scene with the refrigerator fits rather awkwardly into the flow of the plot. The scene where the girl is questioned, in my opinion, is completely and pointlessly ruined. In the original story, she calmly answered the risqué question by saying that she was “saving herself for her husband.”

I really liked Inglund’s performance. His portrayal of the grumpy, wealthy miser is simply magnificent. Levine and Crutchley, on the other hand, are uninteresting, if not downright crude. The detective’s excessive grandstanding and constant swearing are irritating and off-putting.

But the production designer gets a huge A+! The laundry room sets are magnificently recreated, not to mention Davilka herself, the sight of whom sends chills down your spine. The costume designer also rose to the occasion. Notice how elegant the photographer looks in his formal suit: the old man with cancer appears stylish and fit.