The Mangler 2 (2002)

The Worst Film Ever

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The times of great film are thought to have gone the way of the Tasmanian Devil and the Ne-Ne--lost to the ages. If you find yourself a believer in this school of thought, I submit to you "The Mangler 2--Graduation Day." Our times are defined by a select few films, viewed by folks generations from now who see the characters and scenes of these films to portray the thoughts and emotions of those living in its time period. Truly, "The Mangler 2" is one such film. With its true-to-life dialogue, allowing the viewer to not only empathize with the character but to BECOME the character, this movie takes us by the collar and pummels our emotions brutally, stomping on our conceptions of modern security systems and slicing away piece by piece our false sense of safety in our schools. From the first intense seconds of this film, the viewer follows along the turbulent life of a young girl who struggles with her father as well as herself and what society expects of her. She soon meets up with several friends, all of whom are perhaps the most well-developed, complex characters to grace the big screen since those of "Taxi Driver" or "Citizen Kane." These young men and women struggle against a foe far greater than they can comprehend, and several succumb to its evil plots, meeting only the most horrible (yet thought-provoking) deaths imaginable to the human mind. Without spoiling the ending of this cinematic classic, I will suffice it to say that the climax is gripping, a true testament to fine camera-work, acting, writing, and music. The viewer is left on the edge of his seat until, finally, the movie comes to a breath-taking close, leaving us to ask "what's next?" Not only do I give this movie 10 stars, I give it a standing ovation and offer it my first born. Dare I ask when "The Mangler 3" will come squealing from the womb of its writers, squinting into the bright lights of fame?

Wow. I watched the Mangler 2 last night with my good friends, and my life will never be the same. This movie is a great commentary on the dangers of downloading ridiculously powerful computer viruses into your school's security system. Let me tell you something, I hope the good folks at Norton Anti-Virus are on the lookout for this virus, because it's a real danger to society, not those other weak viruses. I mean, this virus had the ability to control EVERYTHING!But as far as the movie goes, the acting was superb, the plot was simply engaging, and the climax is one I will not soon forget. Trust me, do yourself a favor and see the Mangler 2. It will be regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time, mark my mangled words.

I saw this movie on HBO just a few short days ago. While I knew all the while how poor the acting, script, etc. really was, I was compelled to watch until the credits rolled. This was for one thing and one thing only: to confirm my already-predicted ending. Awww, look, the loner girl saves the day (or her own ass, leaving everyone else to the Mangler)... or does she??? :::dun dun dun:::We have here yet another piss-poor sequel that makes more than obvious attempts to grab the youth of america by the balls. (And though I am not equipped, being a girl, I'm pretty confident that I walked away unscathed by the wrath of the super-spooky Mangler)From the painfully cliche characters... -the "goth" girl who obsesses over chaos -the skanky girl who was sexually abused by the headmaster I'll just end that topic here.And let's not forget the soundtrack... For a second there I thought I was on ecstacy...all that techno rave music. Well, let's bring out the glow sticks! Ok, while we can all appreciate a movie score which echoes the plot (computer technology = techno), I doubt we could appreciate it as much when it's on a continuous loop. "Jo" could've been tying her shoe, crying over her meaningless existance some more, or hey, maybe even taking a crap and we'd still here that same techno track. I mean, come on.And I know someone already mentioned the pointless product placement of sorts, i.e. the Mangler quoting "Tell me what you want what you really, really want" of the Spice Girl fame. Well, I did laugh...so I guess that was the attainable result of the writers. But I laugh only in mocking of their collective effort...and the miserable failure in the process. Not to mention that I was picturing a wired Lance Henrikson as the next Scary Spice...But moving right along... I have seen, for lack of a better word, prequel--The Mangler.And I have a few questions: How exactly did the evil spirit Mangler end up on the internet via virus? I was just wondering... oh wait, that's right. THE MANGLER 2 WAS NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM RELATED TO THE ORIGINAL. Ok, so there are many horror movie sequels that fail to acknowledge the previous installments. But for the love of all things sacred....could they at least leave us with something!? The Mangler 2 may as well been called...Killer Virus on Campus, or something. And by the other incriminating evidence (read: non-stop techno, empty stock characters), I declare The Mangler 2 to be in direct violation of movie ethics. The writers go far beyond focusing on a target audience...they dumb down the target audience to the effect of complete idiocy. Sure, we'll buy the latest shoe or guzzle the new flavors of the slurpee machine at the 7-11. But please, don't force-feed us with sugar-coated crap, if there is nothing in it for us. Not all teens, after all, are hell bent on chaos. And not all teens fit into those neatly-woven cloths they cut, in their close-minded cliche ridden dialogue. Playing some funky synthesizers and having well-endowed women on the screen does not ensue entertainment. I mean really, I am 19 years old. And even im my darkest hour of self-pity, I doubt I'll be putting any "Manglers" on my college's main frame. Then again... :::cue the techno music:::

I just rented this film two days ago, and got around to watching it last night. It's not as bad as people say it its, it doesnt deserve this bad of a wrap. Farfetched? Yea Horrible? No, it has an interesting plot and the acting isnt half bad, and face it people we dont need a freakin gore fest to have a good movie *Helloo Halloween?!* Onto the review...The Plot: A Disturbed girl, Jo Newton, breaks into her father's office and plans to download a virus onto her Father's computer. All goes well until the alarm goes off, and she bolts. Her father ends up catching her and as a punishment sends her back to her Private School, where everyone is getting back from Spring Break. Jo isnt exactly what you would call popular, although her father donates INCREDIBLE amounts of money to the school, yet Jo only has about four friends. So Headmaster Bradeen decides to add an incredibly high-tech security systme, all controlled from one computer. Before he does this, he sends all students but five onto their geography trip, guess who the five that stay back are...Well Jo gets mad at everyone and downloads a virus called Mangler 2.0 onto the school's System, which in the end wreaks havoc on the entire school and soon, begins Killing off the remains one by one...The Acting: It's a DTV, get over it, the acting isnt gonna be Award Winning Material. Although it wasnt horrible either. The Actress who stood out for me was Daniella Evangelista, not only was she a good actress and plays "Bitch" very well, but was great Eye-Candy. Chelsea Swain was all right, she handled her role well even though she's not the best cryer, but she did what she could...as for the others they did ok, the Stoner, African American Guy and Boyfriend were all about the same, they did what they could, the Chef was good for Comic Relief and also did what he could, the other teachers, electrician and Bradeen were all on the same level. It's a surprise that Lance even did this. He went from Scream 3 to doing DTV Films...?Blood & Gore: There's really nothing but some blood spatter here. Some guy gets his skin peeled off by scaulding water, some other guy gets his hacked up by Hedge Clippers (Held By Computer Wires...?) Another falls down a flight of stairs and gets his head chopped off by a Fire Ax, Another woman gets her hair caught in a Fax Machine and has her hair ripped out, then theres an electrocution, hanging, and a guy gets crushed in the bleachers. As bloody as this all sounds, most of it is Off-Screen.Directing: The Director of this film wasnt that bad for a First Time Director. He did fairly well for his first time. Different angles and the Night Vision angles and Security Camera angles were pretty cool, so over all it was a pretty decent film. Nothing to get scared over, but just a fun film to watch on a night with friends.ALSO ive heard numerous reports of a Glitch on the DVD where a scene is cut out, i didnt see this. After an Un-Named Character dies in the bleachers, it's obvious all the others run out of the gym and out to the field, it's not that hard to understand, unless im missing something or something i dunno, but i didnt find any "Glitch".OVERALL the film was decent, dont rent it if you want to be scared shytless, but just for pure fun. Its a refrshing installment into the Slasher Genre, something we havent really seen before. I Give Mangler 2 an 8/10, talks of a Mangler 3 and 4 have been heard, i wonder...