10 Horror Movies That Were So Unscary It Actually Hurt

5. The Mangler (1995)

The Mangler Tobe Hooper disgraces himself with this film, and it goes to prove that not everything Stephen King writes translates well onto the screen. A possessed industrial mangle is the bad guy in this film and it is one of the weakest villains a horror movie ever produced. The Mangle obviously kills people. Why don't they just stop using it? Why is Robert Englund hamming it up as a bad guy in this movie? If there was a killer mangle in my workplace I would be straight out of the door in five seconds. But everyone in the film keeps coming back to the mangle - effectively jeopardising their lives. Of course, they have to bring in a priest to exorcise the mangle. Yes, it is possessed by a demon and there is some caper about antacids being the cause of all of this nonsense. I'm not joking. It's the antacids' fault. The only scary thing about this movie is that it spawned a sequel. There were enough Mangler fans for this to come about. Critically reviled upon its release, with its contrived story line and bad acting being major bones of contention with film critics, The Mangler is actually going through a bit of a critical Renaissance with horror critics praising it for its camp value. Camp it may well be, but scary it ain't. For me it's just too silly to provide any scares - just snorts of derisive laughter and severe shooting pains through the legs.
Contributor
Contributor

My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!