The trouble starts when Gartley's niece, Sherry, accidentally cuts herself on a lever connected to the machine and splashes blood on the Mangler's tread while trying to avoid being crushed by an old ice box some movers are clumsily carrying past.

When she attempts to collect them, the safety shield inexplicably lifts up and traps her hand inside, followed by her entire body getting pulled into the machine, crushed and folded like a sheet.

With Sherry's help, the two men attempt to exorcise the demon – which also kills Gartley, his lover and protégé Lin Sue and the laundry's foreman Stanner – by reciting a prayer and administering holy water.

Mark suddenly realizes that the key ingredient in the antacids is deadly nightshade, also called "the Hand of Glory" as outlined in his occult book.

[7] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrote, "The Mangler is ludicrous from start to finish: its plot lines dangle, its effects fail to dazzle and the acting and directing are uniformly bad.

Bloody Disgusting rated it 3/5 stars and wrote that the film "is not good by any objective standards, but it's a fun little gory time-killer with a possessed refrigerator and an evil laundry press.

[15] Jon Condit of Dread Central rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote: "The Mangler is a true test for the guilty pleasure connoisseur.

Bad in every respect, there are definitely worse ways to blow two hours of your time (this film's sequel comes to mind); it's just a shame Hooper was implicated in it".

[16] Mike Long of DVD Talk rated it 0.5/5 stars and wrote: "There have been many bad, throw-away projects based on material from Stephen King, but The Mangler has to be one of the worst.

[17] David Johnson of DVD Verdict wrote that the film "features a lot of gore, a solid, creepy atmosphere, some wonky special effects, all set against a really dumb premise".

Tafoya considers the film to be "up there with [Christine] and [The Shining]" as among the best Stephen King adaptations, "in that it's a stylistic representation of the director's obsessions, not just a boilerplate transposition of his text".