| MANGLER 2, THE (2001) |
| CAST: Chelse Swain, Lance Henriksen, Will Sanderson, Danielle Evangelista, Miles Meadows, Dexter Bell, Philippe Bergeron DIRECTOR: Michael Hamilton-Wright SCREENPLAY: Michael Hamilton-Wright Running Time: 96 Mins. Rated R |
| Artisan Entertainment must've been real desperate for getting some quick cash when they decided to picks the rights up to this sequel to 1995's flop "The Mangler." A small reference aside, there is nothing in here that relates to the original film in any way, yet there's a lot of material in here that seems more closer to the silly cyber film "Ghost in the Machine." Michael Hamilton-Wright, who co-wrote the underrated thriller "Retroactive," must've been in a rush when putting this ridiculous script together, complete with the new slasher trend of hip movie references, no gratuitous nudity or gore, and silly plot twists. Thankfully he comes off slightly better as director than writer, but "Mangler 2" is such a corny sequel that you'll either be fast forwarding most of the way throughout or laughing at its ineptness. Jo (Chelse Swain) is a teenager who lives in supreme wealth, yet feels rebellion against her father since he's too often wrapped up in his work at a high-tech security company to be spending much time with her. When Jo gets caught sneaking around his corporate offices one night, he decides to send her out to a private school, run by the anal retentive headmaster Badian (Lance Henriksen). Instead of going on a planned field trip, Jo and a group of students are held back from Badian, who believes one of them are responsible for hacking onto the school's website and making a crude design on their front page. Either one of them has to fess up to the job or find out whoever else in the school could've caused the problem. Aside from the hunky Dan (Will Sanderson), everyone else seems to give Jo the cold shoulder. Since she can't handle the pressure, Jo turns to her best friend for help, the internet. She comes across a virus called Mangler 2.0 that seems to be a tool she can use against the school, but this takes a sudden downfall when the virus has more unexpectedly dangerous powers than she was aware of. The new, high-tech security field from Jo's father only makes everyone elses lives in greater danger since this virus can access through any power outlets available. Hamilton-Wright works a nice set piece into the opening and thankfully doesn't overuse cheap shocks during the course of the movie, although there is a stupid scene of a character pretending to have his hand stuck in a sink disposal that completely rips off of a moment in "Machine." Despite no nudity (which this film needs), it was a relief to see the attractive Danielle Evangelista in a bikini throughout the running length, letting her ample cleavage distract you from much of the film. It's just a shame that Hamilton-Wright never manages to create any suspense or terror in the story. Instead, you're staring blank at the screen (unless you're drooling at Evangelista), waiting for something exciting to happen in the entire film, which never really does. It doesn't help that there aren't rootable characters throughout the remainder of the film. Everytime there possibly seems to be a good death scene comes up, it ends up suffering from bad staging and Hamilton-Wright keeps them off screen. A few F-words aside, this could've gotten an easy PG-13 rating. Henriksen, mistakenly billed as "Lance Hendricksen" in the final credits of the film, enlivens the proceedings with his screen presence, working fine off of his rather one-dimensional character. His sudden change in appearance late in the film is worthy of some chuckles, watching him ham it up to the fullest, although try not to roll your eyes when he asks Jo, "tell me what you want -- what you really, really want." Swain is a cutie and proves to be a fine performer, but the character she's portraying is so pessimistic that you never feel any of her sympathy for being misunderstood. The great cleavage aside, Evangelista attempts to give her slutty character some personality and comes off the best from the cast. She's a rising talent and hopefully, she'll get some better material her way in the future. Sanderson seems like a nice guy, but plays his part as a stiff, never generating any chemistry between Swain. Miles Meadows and Dexter Bell do alright as the stoner buddies, but they're mostly written off as fodder. Faring the worst is Phillippe Bergeron in an amazingly bad attempt for comic relief role as the whiny French chef, whose performance is comparable to fingers scratching a chalkboard (which he even does in one scene). This guy whines and whines through all of his screentime and you'll keep your fingers crossed for the Mangler to find some sort of way to kill him. Currently ranked at #8 on The Internet Movie Database's worst films of all time list, I wouldn't go so far to call it one of the worst films ever made (there are worse films out there), although it is one of the goofier horror films to come out recently. I'll admit that I liked some of the techno music playing in the background and the eye candy of Evangelista, but otherwise, I would advise you not to waste your time with this dismal film. Rating: * 1/2 out of ***** Review by Adam Eshack; (c) - 4/22/02 |
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