The Mangler 2 starts with a rebellious teenager named Jo Newton (Chelse Swain) being sent to a private school by her displeased billionaire Father (Ken Camroux) after breaking into one of his hi-tech computer lab thingy's & hacking the main computer, or something like that. Headmaster Bradeen (Lance Henriksen) holds a school assembly (consisting of about 50 students) to inform everyone that while they have been away on their spring break the school has been fitted out with the latest computer system called M2K from 'Newton Industries' that will safeguard the students needs & safety. As it happens everyone is going away on a geography trip, everyone that is except the five head prefects, Jo, Dan Channa (Will Sanderson), Corey Banks (Miles Meadows), Will Walsh (Dexter Bell) & Emily Stone (Daniella Evangelista) who have to stay behind because of a practical joke played on the schools website which 'degrades' the school & it's pupils. Bradeen specifically accuses Jo so as revenge she downloads a virus called the 'Mangler' & infects the schools brand new computer systems with it. Before long Bob the maintenance man (Jeff Doucette) has been murdered by the schools computer as it decides to kill everyone currently within it's walls...
Written & directed by Micheal Hamilton-Wright The Mangler 2 has no connection to the previous Tobe Hooper directed The Mangler (1995) & is truly one of the worse films you will ever have the opportunity to witness. It's absolutely abysmal on every conceivable level you care to think of. The script is so slow & boring it could probably put most people into a coma, Bob the maintenance man isn't killed until the 36 minute mark so that means there is 36 painful, dull, uneventful & frankly god awful minutes before anything that even approaches horror takes place. Up to this point it's just totally unnecessary chit chat & character development that instead of making the viewer care about these people does exactly the opposite, I hated every single annoying, unfunny spoilt brat in The Mangler 2 & it's been a while since I've hated every character in a film. I mean take Jo for instance, besides being a sort of anti-hero she is always in a mood but what has she got to be in a mood about exactly? Her Father's a billionaire, life can't be that bad for her surely! So you just sit there hoping they will be killed off in very painful ways, well you can forget about that as almost all of the murders, of which there aren't many anyway, are off-screen, incredibly dull & bland. There is no gore in The Mangler 2 just a burned guy & a few splashes of blood, really that's it, in fact there isn't an effect in The Mangler 2 that you couldn't create at home with a bit of fake blood. From a technical point of view it ain't bad but the direction sucks, director Hamilton-Wright fails miserably to create any tension, atmosphere, scares or anything that resembles entertainment. How can a computer control things which aren't electrical like a washing machine lid or a wheelchair? How can it makes wires come alive & wrap themselves around people? How was this film ever allowed to get past the script stage (if there was a script)? Why are the characters so dumb? Why don't they just stand out in the open where there are no electrical appliances? Why do they split up & constantly argue? Why don't they just walk out of the door instead of having to run across the roof? Why has no one got a mobile phone? Doesn't everyone have mobile phones these days? The unbelievably mushy ending when the annoying character who started it all in the first place finds a new found appreciation for her Father & they both live happily ever after just compounds the fact that I wanted to slit my wrists after suffering 90 odd minutes of this crap, Micheal Hamilton-Wright bow your head in shame! A quick word about the acting, first everyone's terrible & really unlikable. Second, oh dear what on Earth was Lance Henriksen thinking?! This piece of straight-to-video, or maybe it was made-for-video?, turgid rubbish really blots his copybook as far as I'm concerned. A special mention goes to the highly irritating & annoying techno music that director Hamilton-Wright insists on abusing our ears with. According to the IMDb The Mangler 2 had an estimated budget of $4,000,000, all I can say is that where did the money go because it's a cheap looking film with few effects & actor's. Currently almost 70% of the votes on the IMDb give it 1 star which it fully deserves & I honestly can't see what anyone would get out of The Mangler 2 in terms of entertainment. Apparently there is a yet another sequel called The Mangler Reborn (2005) at which I shudder at the mere thought. There really is nothing that I can compliment The Mangler 2 on, it is one of the very worst films it's been my misfortune to endure & generally speaking it is just an astonishingly bad film that I hope you never have to sit through & if you already have then I feel your pain...
Written & directed by Micheal Hamilton-Wright The Mangler 2 has no connection to the previous Tobe Hooper directed The Mangler (1995) & is truly one of the worse films you will ever have the opportunity to witness. It's absolutely abysmal on every conceivable level you care to think of. The script is so slow & boring it could probably put most people into a coma, Bob the maintenance man isn't killed until the 36 minute mark so that means there is 36 painful, dull, uneventful & frankly god awful minutes before anything that even approaches horror takes place. Up to this point it's just totally unnecessary chit chat & character development that instead of making the viewer care about these people does exactly the opposite, I hated every single annoying, unfunny spoilt brat in The Mangler 2 & it's been a while since I've hated every character in a film. I mean take Jo for instance, besides being a sort of anti-hero she is always in a mood but what has she got to be in a mood about exactly? Her Father's a billionaire, life can't be that bad for her surely! So you just sit there hoping they will be killed off in very painful ways, well you can forget about that as almost all of the murders, of which there aren't many anyway, are off-screen, incredibly dull & bland. There is no gore in The Mangler 2 just a burned guy & a few splashes of blood, really that's it, in fact there isn't an effect in The Mangler 2 that you couldn't create at home with a bit of fake blood. From a technical point of view it ain't bad but the direction sucks, director Hamilton-Wright fails miserably to create any tension, atmosphere, scares or anything that resembles entertainment. How can a computer control things which aren't electrical like a washing machine lid or a wheelchair? How can it makes wires come alive & wrap themselves around people? How was this film ever allowed to get past the script stage (if there was a script)? Why are the characters so dumb? Why don't they just stand out in the open where there are no electrical appliances? Why do they split up & constantly argue? Why don't they just walk out of the door instead of having to run across the roof? Why has no one got a mobile phone? Doesn't everyone have mobile phones these days? The unbelievably mushy ending when the annoying character who started it all in the first place finds a new found appreciation for her Father & they both live happily ever after just compounds the fact that I wanted to slit my wrists after suffering 90 odd minutes of this crap, Micheal Hamilton-Wright bow your head in shame! A quick word about the acting, first everyone's terrible & really unlikable. Second, oh dear what on Earth was Lance Henriksen thinking?! This piece of straight-to-video, or maybe it was made-for-video?, turgid rubbish really blots his copybook as far as I'm concerned. A special mention goes to the highly irritating & annoying techno music that director Hamilton-Wright insists on abusing our ears with. According to the IMDb The Mangler 2 had an estimated budget of $4,000,000, all I can say is that where did the money go because it's a cheap looking film with few effects & actor's. Currently almost 70% of the votes on the IMDb give it 1 star which it fully deserves & I honestly can't see what anyone would get out of The Mangler 2 in terms of entertainment. Apparently there is a yet another sequel called The Mangler Reborn (2005) at which I shudder at the mere thought. There really is nothing that I can compliment The Mangler 2 on, it is one of the very worst films it's been my misfortune to endure & generally speaking it is just an astonishingly bad film that I hope you never have to sit through & if you already have then I feel your pain...