Arrow Video, out now

A laundry-folding machine is possessed by a demon, causing it to develop homicidal tendencies.

The biggest surprise about Tobe Hooper’s (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) 1995 adaptation of Stephen King’s 1972 short story about a homicidal mangle is not that it was made, but that it spawned two further entries – The Mangler 2 with Lance Henriksen in 2002 and 2005’s The Mangler Reborn with Reggie Bannister.

Arrow’s Blu-ray premiere is a treat for Stephen King completists, and it’s not the worst adaptation of the author’s work by any stretch. Indeed, Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs) is great fun as unorthodox ‘cop with a past’ detective John Hunton, trying to get his head round the bizarre notion that a laundry machine has been possessed by a demon and needs exorcising. On the other side of the law, Robert England chews up the scenery as laundry owner Bill Gartley, a one-eyed, cigar chomping tyrant on crutches.

Of course it’s ridiculous, but it has no pretensions of being anything else. It plays out like a segment from Creepshow, and it’s never boring. Arrow’s disc includes three audio commentaries – critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas / Josh Nelson, critics Matty Budrewicz / Dave Wain and co-writer Stephen David Brooks. Two new visual essays are joined by an archival interview with Englund, behind the scenes footage and a trailer.

Verdict: Enjoyably ripe, bonkers 90s horror nonsense; you’ll be hard pressed to find a better possessed laundry machine movie! 8/10

Nick Joy