"The Mangler 2" is a decent, if slightly more enjoyable sequel to the original.
**SPOILERS**
As a form of punishment, troubled teen Jo Newton, (Chelse Swain) is sent to Royal Collegiate College, where Headmaster Bradeen, (Lance Henriksen) introduces a special high-tech campus-wide security system, to the disdain of Dan Channa, (Will Sanderson) Emily Stone, (Daniela Evangelista) Will Walsh, (Dexter Bell) and Corey Banks, (Miles Meadows) her friends and fellow students. After they're all unjustly accused of a computer prank, she decides to get even by unleashing the Mangler computer virus on the school's security system. Spending time partying on the abandoned campus, they slowly realize that the virus is using the security system to kill them off, and try to stop the new being from killing them all.
The Good News: This one wasn't that bad, and actually had some good stuff to it at times. The fact that the stalking at the end of the film, with the usual amount of action and suspense, is the best part of the film. This one ends on a really high-note, getting in a whole lot of good stuff into a short amount of time. There's the really fun way of getting around the security cameras, that leads to some nice suspense as the plan is put into action and carried out nicely, there's a fun way of going through it and it's really fun. The chases through the campus, complete with the split-screen images of the computer looking after them, which is a pretty nice idea and is done throughout the whole parts is where it really counts and feels really good. These here are fully used throughout, from them inside the pool to the kitchen sequences to the office work and the incredible sequence inside the darkened theater done through the night-vision so much more, all to make the one idea work. All of their attempts to rectify it and get around it to make the scenes work. All of them are pretty much fun as well, and because they include the really nice and enjoyable kills as well. There's a decapitation with garden shears, a rope wrapped around the neck and lynched, a crushing with the bleachers, pulled into a washing machine by the hair, a couple of electrocutions and a rather gory melting from boiling water, among more. These here are the best things about the film.
The Bad News: This one here only had a few minor problems to it. The first half of the film, which mainly consists of them running around goofing around campus for pretty much everything that happens is pretty much the main thing that occurs and isn't all that much fun. Nothing of interest occurs during these times, as it's all pretty much the same things over and over again, from the jokes to the flirting and the complaining about the situation to the staff conversing about the new machine and all it does, and none of this is all that exciting or even interesting. It makes for a hard time getting into the film and it really suffers because of this. The only other thing that really hurts this one is that, as brutal and fun as the kills are, none of them are graphic. Either in the form that they occur in, by design or just through sheer inability to see what's exactly going on, this one here is really dry and doesn't really do a lot to fix it, which wouldn't have been that hard. These, though, are the film's few problems.
The Final Verdict: A little better than the original, which isn't really saying much as there wasn't a whole lot to this one either. Give it a shot if you're into the genre, find the first one enjoyable or feel you won't find this one too offensive, otherwise then just stick to others out there more complete and worthwhile.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and drug use
**SPOILERS**
As a form of punishment, troubled teen Jo Newton, (Chelse Swain) is sent to Royal Collegiate College, where Headmaster Bradeen, (Lance Henriksen) introduces a special high-tech campus-wide security system, to the disdain of Dan Channa, (Will Sanderson) Emily Stone, (Daniela Evangelista) Will Walsh, (Dexter Bell) and Corey Banks, (Miles Meadows) her friends and fellow students. After they're all unjustly accused of a computer prank, she decides to get even by unleashing the Mangler computer virus on the school's security system. Spending time partying on the abandoned campus, they slowly realize that the virus is using the security system to kill them off, and try to stop the new being from killing them all.
The Good News: This one wasn't that bad, and actually had some good stuff to it at times. The fact that the stalking at the end of the film, with the usual amount of action and suspense, is the best part of the film. This one ends on a really high-note, getting in a whole lot of good stuff into a short amount of time. There's the really fun way of getting around the security cameras, that leads to some nice suspense as the plan is put into action and carried out nicely, there's a fun way of going through it and it's really fun. The chases through the campus, complete with the split-screen images of the computer looking after them, which is a pretty nice idea and is done throughout the whole parts is where it really counts and feels really good. These here are fully used throughout, from them inside the pool to the kitchen sequences to the office work and the incredible sequence inside the darkened theater done through the night-vision so much more, all to make the one idea work. All of their attempts to rectify it and get around it to make the scenes work. All of them are pretty much fun as well, and because they include the really nice and enjoyable kills as well. There's a decapitation with garden shears, a rope wrapped around the neck and lynched, a crushing with the bleachers, pulled into a washing machine by the hair, a couple of electrocutions and a rather gory melting from boiling water, among more. These here are the best things about the film.
The Bad News: This one here only had a few minor problems to it. The first half of the film, which mainly consists of them running around goofing around campus for pretty much everything that happens is pretty much the main thing that occurs and isn't all that much fun. Nothing of interest occurs during these times, as it's all pretty much the same things over and over again, from the jokes to the flirting and the complaining about the situation to the staff conversing about the new machine and all it does, and none of this is all that exciting or even interesting. It makes for a hard time getting into the film and it really suffers because of this. The only other thing that really hurts this one is that, as brutal and fun as the kills are, none of them are graphic. Either in the form that they occur in, by design or just through sheer inability to see what's exactly going on, this one here is really dry and doesn't really do a lot to fix it, which wouldn't have been that hard. These, though, are the film's few problems.
The Final Verdict: A little better than the original, which isn't really saying much as there wasn't a whole lot to this one either. Give it a shot if you're into the genre, find the first one enjoyable or feel you won't find this one too offensive, otherwise then just stick to others out there more complete and worthwhile.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and drug use