Shopping

Well, there is a whole lot of cheese in Chopping Mall. Remembering this movie from my childhood, I was compelled to rent it last night. Well, I am glad I did! Yeah, there isn't anything spectacular about the movie...There is a lot of Cheese (Automatic Rifles in a Mall?), but it still stands out as one of the better B-movies of the 80's.

The Robots are pretty decent looking. The acting is typical for the genre and timeframe. The head explosion scene is just classic.

I now feel compelled to track this down on Ebay, since I don't see an American DVD release anytime soon...

Rent it and just enjoy the actual quality to this b-movie. I don't mean the acting, but the scenery and the robots. The CGI is laughable...but, that is another topic...

7 out of 10

A treasure trove of teen movie clichés and outlandish murders, Chopping Mall is - and I'm as surprised as anyone - a lot of fun! It's well-paced, the action's good and these are likable characters. Not only that, but the Kill Bots themselves are kinda cool. You can tell pretty quickly which of the teens will step in at the last minute and be the hero, yet I was engaged throughout.

Part of the appeal is the setting; They used an actual location during production (the go-to Sherman Oaks Galleria in this case), so the mall culture is legitimate. It's a snapshot as well as the wish-fulfillment of having free rein in a mall after-hours. That can't be just me, right?

The premise is absurd and characteristically naughty, and that's all part of the charm.

Security robots at a Los Angeles mall malfunction after a lightning strike and become a deadly threat to a group of youths partying at a furniture store after hours.

"Chopping Mall" (1986) takes the malevolent robot idea of "Westworld" (1973) and places it in the mall setting of "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) with robots that look like malicious versions of "Short Circuit" (1986) and R2D2. "RoboCop" didn't debut until the next year.

Winsome girl-next-door Kelli Maroney is a highlight as protagonist Alison while Russell Todd from "Friday the 13th Part 2" (1981) is stalwart as Rick. Suzee Slater as Leslie is a'right. This is a spirited Grade B flick but at the end of the day it's a throwaway; it's fun and well-executed, but somehow hollow and forgettable.

The movie runs 1 hour, 17 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, which was also used in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991).

GRADE: B-/C+

A group of teens(among them lovely Barbara Crampton from "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond")are terrorized in a shopping mall by a bunch of killer security robots."Chopping Mall" is a highly energetic horror film that is perfect for younger horror fans.The film is well-made,delightfully cheesy and it offers some memorable set-pieces(check out a head explosion scene!).The characters are likeable and there are some great one liners.Highly recommended.Director Jim Wynorski made also "Sorority House Massacre 2","976 Evil 2:The Astral Factor" and "Hard to Die".

In this insignificant but nevertheless fun 80's low-budgeter, the sex-hungry teenagers for once aren't chased around by a killer wearing a ridiculous mask but by a troop of malfunctioning and heavily armed security robots! Four couples that work in various stores at the Park Plaza shopping mall secretly throw an after hours party during the same night when a lightening storm completely disorientates the 3 brand new "Protector" robots and get killed off one by one. "Chopping Mall" (how can you not love that title?) is a lot of fun to watch and it's easily Jim Wynorski's best effort out of more than 60 directed films. Despite the fact that "Chopping Mall" doesn't take itself too seriously and mainly focuses on satire, there really are some tense moments and properly mounted suspense sequences. The laser head-explosion sequence is famous and there are multiple other cheese-highlights. But what is perhaps the most surprising, are the engaging acting performances and the welcome amount of tasteful nudity. The most familiar cute face in the cast is Barbara Crampton who stars as a screaming beauty in between her two greatest films "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond". Truly ingenious are the endless references towards Roger Corman's repertoire, especially illustrated through cameos of Paul Bartel, Dick Miller and Mary Woronov. Unquestionably, "Chopping Mall" is a righteous guilty pleasure of many, many horror fans.