{"id":10544,"date":"2025-01-14T16:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T21:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=10544"},"modified":"2025-01-14T16:43:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T21:43:13","slug":"chopping-mall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/01\/14\/chopping-mall\/","title":{"rendered":"Chopping Mall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Chopping Mall<\/strong>\u00a0 (1986)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Concorde Pictures\/Sci-Fi-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 77 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (graphic violence, language, nudity, sex)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jim Wynorski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jim Wynorski and Steve Mitchell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Chuck Cirino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Tom Richmond \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Release date: March 21, 1986 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kelli Maroney, Tony O\u2019Dell, Russell Todd, Karrie Emerson, Barbara Crampton, Nick Segal, John Terlesky, Suzee Slater, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Dick Miller, Angela Aames, Gerrit Graham, Mel Welles, Paul Coufos, Arthur Roberts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0It was the title that attracted me. How could I possibly turn down a horror movie with a cool title like Chopping Mall<\/strong>? Okay, it wasn\u2019t exactly what I expected; it didn\u2019t involve a deformed homicidal maniac mutilating dumb, horny teens at a shopping mall. No, it was even cooler. By way of explanation, I\u2019ll quote a line from the movie, \u201cI guess I\u2019m not used to running around a shopping mall in the middle of the night being chased by killer robots.\u201d That\u2019s right, killer robots. Is there any other kind? Technology can be deadly and it usually is in horror movies. Look what happened in The Terminator and Runaway. I guess the builders of the security robots in Chopping Mall<\/strong> missed those movies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed (and co-written with Steve Mitchell) by Jim Wynorski (Deathstalker II) and produced by Julie Corman (wife of exploitation movie king Roger Corman), Chopping Mall<\/strong> is a low budget job, made for only $800,000 in just 22 days. You wouldn\u2019t know it though; it looks better than some movies made for ten, twenty times that amount. I first saw it in June 1987. I saw it on the shelf at West Coast Video and knew right away it was for me. Like I said, it was the title. I was very impressed with it. Not only did it have a decent body count and some cool kill scenes (including one exploding head!), it also has a sense of humor. This is evident in the movies opening minutes. Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov reprise their characters (Paul and Mary Bland) from the 1982 cult comedy Eating Raoul. Why are they there, you ask? Because they\u2019re longtime friends and associates of Roger Corman, of course. In fact, there are many references to other Corman movies throughout Chopping Mall<\/strong>. I\u2019ll talk about that later.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although I already summed up the plot in the opening paragraph, I\u2019d now like to provide a more detailed plot description. The Park Plaza Mall has recently updated its security system which now includes three robots that patrol the place. They\u2019re programmed to check IDs and apprehend shoplifters using tasers and tranquilizer guns. One night, a lightning bolt strikes the mall and turns the robots into killers. Naturally, it\u2019s the same night that a group of young employees decide to stay after hours and party in the furniture store where three of the guys work. It\u2019s the 80s and it\u2019s a horror flick, so partying entails drinking and sex.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The couples are Mike (Terlesky, Deathstalker II) and Leslie (Slater, Savage Streets), Rick (Todd, Friday the 13th<\/sup> Part 2) and Linda (Emerson, Evils of the Night), Greg (Segal, School Spirit) and Suzie (Crampton, Re-Animator) and Ferdy (O\u2019Dell, Head of the Class) and Alison (Maroney, Night of the Comet). There\u2019s little question as to who last man and\/or woman standing will be. Here\u2019s a hint; Ferdy and Alison are on a blind date. Anyway, the security system is set up so that the mall is completely locked down between midnight and 6am. No in or out. In other words, the kids are trapped inside with the killer robots. Let the fight for survival begin.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Chopping Mall<\/strong> is great fun! It has a killer cast. I love Kelli Maroney. She was so good in Night of the Comet (a cult classic!) and she\u2019s just as good here. Not all of the acting is good; some of it is quite bad, in fact. Terlesky overplays his role as the typical 80s macho studley type, grinning and chewing gum the whole time. However, even the bad acting is great. It\u2019s kind of what you expect in an 80s teen-oriented horror flick. In addition, there are cameos by Dick Miller (another Corman vet) as a janitor with a very short life span, Gerrit Graham (Cannonball) as a security technician with a very short life span, the late Angela Aames (Bachelor Party) and Paul Coufos (The Lost Empire) as security company reps, Mel Welles (Mr. Mushnick from the original 1960 Corman-produced version of Little Shop of Horrors) as a pizza cook and Arthur Roberts (Revenge of the Ninja) as Leslie\u2019s ill-tempered dad.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I mentioned earlier that Chopping Mall<\/strong> contains references to other Corman movies. Some of them are in the cameos. Miller plays the same character he played in 1959\u2019s A Bucket of Blood. Also, you see posters for Galaxy of Terror, Sorceress and The Lost Empire (all Corman productions) in different scenes. There\u2019s no reason for them to be there since not a single scene is set at a video store but so be it. The book Gerrit Graham\u2019s character is reading \u201cThey Came from Outer Space\u201d was edited by Wynorski and contains the original short story (\u201cThe Racer\u201d) that became Death Race 2000. The horror movie Alison and Ferdy watch in the furniture store is Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957). Yes, it\u2019s a Corman flick too! I don\u2019t know about you, but I find trivia like this fascinating.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It was originally entitled Killbots but Chopping Mall<\/strong> is clearly the better title. The first title is really the movie\u2019s only wrong move, but the producers rectified it quickly. I\u2019m glad because Chopping Mall<\/strong> really is a great movie. It has some cool kill scenes. People are electrocuted, burned to death, shot with lasers and have their throats cut. One poor dope falls three levels to his death. Then there\u2019s the piece de resistance<\/em>, the exploding head. It\u2019s almost as gory as the scene in Scanners (1981). The effects are cheap and the dialogue goofy. One of my favorite lines comes when the guys are arming themselves (with guns from the sporting goods store) for battle with the bots. One of them cocks his rifle and says, \u201cLet\u2019s send these f***ers a Rambo-gram.\u201d You have to love silly lines like that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s the thing about Chopping Mall<\/strong>; it never takes itself seriously, not even for a nanosecond, so why should we? It\u2019s just a fun, well-made sci-fi-horror cheapie that puts many big budget scary movies to shame. It\u2019s smarter than you\u2019d think and just as silly as you\u2019d expect.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chopping Mall\u00a0 (1986)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Concorde Pictures\/Sci-Fi-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 77 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (graphic violence, language, nudity, sex)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jim Wynorski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jim Wynorski and Steve Mitchell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Chuck Cirino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Tom Richmond \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Release date: March 21, 1986 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kelli Maroney, Tony O\u2019Dell, Russell Todd, Karrie Emerson, Barbara Crampton, Nick Segal, John Terlesky, Suzee Slater, Paul Bartel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cool-cult-flicks","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chopping-Mall-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10544"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10694,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10544\/revisions\/10694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}