New essay on The Mangler in Vinegar Syndrome Limited Edition 4K booklet

Order The Mangler (Vinegar Syndrome Limited Edition 4K).

From the minds of horror master Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Poltergeist) and writer Stephen King (The Shining) comes a terrifying and darkly comedic vision of technology gone mad: THE MANGLER (1995). Starring horror legend Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), along with Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), and voice work by actor Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh). Packed with outrageously gory and bizarre set pieces along with impressive visual effects, Vinegar Syndrome is excited to present the UHD debut of this supremely strange and entertaining 90s horror classic, presented in a stunning new 4K restoration of its original 35mm camera negative, in its extra gruesome unrated version, and loaded with extras including an extended new making-of documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew.

directed by: Tobe Hooper
starring: Robert Englund, Ted Levine, Daniel Matmor, Jeremy Crutchley, Vanessa Pike
1995 / 106 min / 1.85:1 / English 5.1 Surround + 2.0 Stereo

Additional info:

  • 2-disc Set: 4K Ultra HD / Region A Blu-ray
  • 4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
  • Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
  • New commentary track with editor David Heitner and film critic Alison Foreman
  • New commentary track with film critic Scout Tafoya
  • “Waking a Brutal Beast” (46 min) – a brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with writer Stephen David Brooks, actors Robert Englund and Jeremy Crutchley, and special effects team Scott Coulter, Scott Wheeler, and Todd Masters
  • Behind-the-scenes footage
  • Still gallery
  • Theatrical trailer
  • TV spot
  • 40-page perfect-bound book with writing by Mike Thorn, Chris Cabin, and Ariel Esteban Cayer (limited edition only)
  • Reversible sleeve artwork
  • English SDH subtitles
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Craftwork Episode 32: Gothic Spaces, Familial Secrets, & Diasporic Perspectives w/ Dania Idriss

Listen to Craftwork Episode 32: Gothic Spaces, Familial Secrets, & Diasporic Perspectives w/ Dania Idriss

In this interview, we chat with Dania Idriss about representing human cruelty, finding creative nourishment in academic conferences, spending time in “writing jail”, and so much more.  

Dania Idriss (she/her) is a Lebanese-Canadian author and a doctoral candidate in the Department of English at the University of Calgary. She (currently) gratefully lives and works on the traditional territory of Treaty 7, with her writing focusing on global literatures, particularly Arabic speculative fiction. Her first book, a collection of horror stories titled Tales of the Mountains and the Sea, was released by Freehand Books in May 2026. Dania teaches speculative fiction and global literatures at the Alberta University of the Arts and the University of Calgary. She enjoys all things spooky, warm sweaters, and spending time with her bunny, Arlo.  

Books and stories mentioned in this episode: 

  • Human Sacrifices — María Fernanda Ampuero  
  • American War; One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This — Omar El Akkad 
  • The Woman in White — Wilkie Collins 
  • David Copperfield; Great Expectations; The Old Curiosity Shop — Charles Dickens 
  • The Haunting of Hill House; The Sundial; We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson 
  • The Monk — Matthew Gregory Lewis 
  • Forgotten Journey; Thus Were Their Faces — Silvina Ocampo 
  • “Brokeback Mountain” — Annie Proulx 
  • Harry Potter series — J. K. Rowling 
  • Frankenstein — Mary Shelley 
  • Dracula — Bram Stoker 
  • “Hair” — Mike Thorn 
  • The Castle of Otranto — Horace Walpole 
  • Lolly Willowes — Sylvia Townsend Warner 
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Craftwork Episode 31: Shakespearean Themes, Wang WPS Mishaps, & Stephen King’s Revisions w/ Caroline Bicks

Listen to Craftwork Episode 31: Shakespearean Themes, Wang WPS Mishaps, & Stephen King’s Revisions w/ Caroline Bicks.

In this interview, we chat with Caroline Bicks about combatting AI in the classroom, words clanging on readers’ ears, the uniquely portable magic of fiction, and so much more.

Caroline Bicks is the author of several academic books, including Cognition and Girlhood in Shakespeare’s World and Midwiving Subjects in Shakespeare’s England. After she was named the University of Maine’s inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, she became the first scholar to be granted extended access by Stephen King to his private archive. In her most recent book, Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King, Bicks documents her exploration of King’s early drafts and hand-written revisions, and her conversations with King about those changes. Her popular writing has appeared in the Modern Love column of the New York Times and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. She is the co-host of the Everyday Shakespeare podcast.

Books, plays, stories, and poems mentioned in this episode:

  • The Wizard of Oz — L. Frank Baum  
  • I Know a Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours — Nat Cassidy 
  • “Cherrylog Road” — James Dickey  
  • “The Boogeyman”; Carrie; Cell; “Children of the Corn”; Christine; Cujo; Danse Macabre; “The Dark Man”; The Dead Zone; Insomnia; It; “Jerusalem’s Lot”; Lisey’s Story; The Long Walk; Misery; Night Shift;  “Night Surf”; On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft; Pet Sematary; Rage; ‘Salem’s Lot; The Shining; The Stand; “Strawberry Spring” — Stephen King 
  • Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life — Anne Lamott 
  • Edward II — Christopher Marlowe 
  • North Woods — Daniel Mason 
  • A Swim in the Pond in the Rain — George Saunders 
  • Hamlet; Henry IV, Part I; Henry IV; Part II; Henry V; Henry VI, Part I; Henry VI, Part II; Henry VI, Part III; Macbeth; Richard II; Richard III; Romeo and Juliet — William Shakespeare 
  • Charlotte’s Web — E. B. White 
  • Our Town — Thornton Wilder 
  • How Fiction Works — James Wood 
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Craftwork Episode 30: Ghostwriting, Cold War Propaganda, & Coming Back from a Five-Week Coma w/ Luke Francis Beirne

Listen to Craftwork Episode 30: Ghostwriting, Cold War Propaganda, & Coming Back from a Five-Week Coma w/ Luke Francis Beirne.

In this interview, we chat with Luke Francis Beirne about literature versus entertainment, Atlantic Canadian textures, a literary marriage proposal, and so much more.    

Luke Francis Beirne was born in Ireland in 1995 and now lives on Wolastoqey land in Saint John, New Brunswick. Beirne has published three novels with Baraka Books: Foxhunt, Blacklion, and Saints Rest. His stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in outlets such as Counterpunch, NB Media Co-op, Hamilton Arts & Letters, Honest Ulsterman, and CrimeReads. 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

  • Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King — Caroline Bicks 
  • The Last Thing He Wanted — Joan Didion 
  • The Quiet American — Graham Greene 
  • The Maltese Falcon — Dashiell Hammett 
  • The Outsiders — S. E. Hinton 
  • The Bamboo Blonde; In a Lonely Place — Dorothy B. Hughes 
  • Hatchet — Gary Paulsen 
  • How Fiction Works — James Wood
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Craftwork Episode 29: Gut Feelings, Sonic Recursion, & Raspberry Cordial w/ Cassidy McFadzean

Listen to Craftwork Episode 29: Gut Feelings, Sonic Recursion, & Raspberry Cordial w/ Cassidy McFadzean.

In this interview, we chat with Cassidy McFadzean about skewing prepositions, trusting the reader, opting for vibes over plot, and so much more.   

Cassidy McFadzean is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Crying Dress (House of Anansi, 2024). Her fiction has appeared in Joyland, The Walrus, Hazlitt, and Dead Writers (Invisible Publishing, 2025). Cassidy was born in Regina, earned an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College, and now lives in Toronto. She was the 2024-2025 Writer-in-Residence at Sheridan College, and is the 2025-2026 Poet-in-Residence at Arc Poetry Magazine.

Books mentioned in this episode:   

  • The Weak Spot — Lucie Elven 
  • Bird by Bird — Anne Lamott 
  • Slows: Twice — T. Liem 
  • Anne of Green Gables; Chronicles of Avonlea; Emily of New Moon; The Story Girl — Lucy Maud Montgomery 
  • Fever Dream — Samanta Schweblin 
  • Rock Crystal — Adalbert Stifter 
  • The Ice Palace — Tarjei Vesaas
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Craftwork Episode 28: Earthy Language, Scary Cupids, & Lunar Portrayals w/ Michael Wehunt

Listen to Craftwork Episode 28: Earthy Language, Scary Cupids, & Lunar Portrayals w/ Michael Wehunt.

In this interview, we chat with Michael Wehunt about the administrative side of professional writing, the unanticipated weirdness of public selfhood, the “moment before the moment”, and so much more.   

Michael Wehunt has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, multiple Shirley Jackson Awards, and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts’ Crawford Award. In Spain, his translated works have garnered nominations for the Premio Ignotus and Premio Amaltea, winning the latter. He haunts the woods of Decatur, Georgia, with his partner and their dog. Together, they hold the horrors at bay. Most recently, he is the author of the novels The October Film Haunt and Nightjars.  

Books and poems mentioned in this episode:   

  • Ancient Images; The Grin of the Dark; Incarnate — Ramsey Campbell 
  • Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture — Douglas Coupland 
  • Poems 1962-2020 — Louise Glück 
  • Carrie — Stephen King 
  • Beings — Ilana Masad 
  • The God of the Woods; Long Bright River — Liz Moore 
  • Ghost Wall; Ripeness — Sarah Moss 
  • The Violent Bear it Away — Flannery O’Connor 
  • “Archaic Torso of Apollo” — Rainer Maria Rilke
  • Coffin Moon — Keith Rosson 
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