Shopping

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.

Had all the boxes checked: cheesy dialogue, campy feel, bad acting, silly villain(s), gratuitous boob shot. It was just an entertaining 80 minutes. Please don't expect more out of that and I don't think you will.

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+

CHOPPING MALL is one of those cheapies made in the 1980s that was probably green-lighted because of the expanding video market. Even though it was released theatrically, CHOPPING MALL looks more like a direct-to-video movie than anything else. The video I saw had a terrible transfer (out of focus and murky) and the cheesiness of it all could have made this a chore to sit through but even with those things going against it, the film was fun and fast paced. It's totally played for laughs and never takes itself seriously. The upbeat goofiness basically saves CHOPPING MALL from the usually unwatchable Concord/New World junk.

It's a definite minor Cult film.

A group of teens wanting to spend the night at a shopping plaza get more when they bargained for in Chopping Mall, a very entertaining mid-80's cheese fest.

In order to eliminate criminals from stealing from their stores, a massive shopping mall named Park Plaza decides to create robots designed to detain anyone in it's path after hours who shouldn't be there. The robots have darts put inside of them made to shoot out and knock out criminals. One night during a thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning seem to turn the robots into killing machines with a mind of their own. A group of young people who work at Park Plaza decide to spend the night in the mall after hours for a little fun. Little do they know, the group of killer robots are roaming the dark corridors of the shopping centre ready to slaughter all of them for being there when they shouldn't be...

Chopping Mall was a very enjoyable horror flick for me. I loved the filming location of the mall and how 80's everything was, from the fashion to the mall decor. I was taken back to 1986 and was living for it. The theme of people staying after hours in the dark/desolate mall is a great horror sub-genre for me, done well by films such as Dawn of the Dead and The Initiation to name a few. Chopping Mall brought that fun atmosphere of exploring an empty mall with seemingly no one around to stop you from doing whatever you want.

The characters weren't really fleshed out or given any riveting backstories. Outside of maybe 2 or 3 of them, they were simply there to add to the body count. Kelli Maroney who I had never seen before was strong in the lead role. We got Russell Todd of Friday the 13th Part 2 fame, and the always terrific Barbara Crampton from horror classics like Castle Freak and Re-Animator. The special effects were up and down for me. In terms of gore and kills, I thought the movie did a great job in the blood department. But some of the robot laser effects were very dated and didn't look great. It only added to the cheesiness of Chopping Mall which in some strange way worked for the film.

All in all, Chopping Mall is a comedy horror film that I highly recommend seeing. There is a deserted mall, a group of horny teenagers, and killer robots. What else could you ask for from a cheesy late 80's scary movie?

7/10.