Chopping Mall (1986)

Little known B movie fare of the '80's is great tongue-in-cheek horror!

Young mall workers decide to party in their store over night, but they didn't count on those hi-tech security robots going on a rampage!

While Chopping Mall isn't a movie for the serious (hence the title) it's a great ride for those who are game. The mall makes for an excellent setting and the director uses it to the films advantage. It has plenty of action and some creative suspense. The showdown is intense and nicely climatic. The special FX are fairly good for a low-budget movie, the scene with Suzi Slater is quite memorable! We also get plenty of references to old-school horror films, as well as some cameos by genre favorites like Dick Miller and Paul Bartell. There's also a great electronic music score for the film.

The cast is decent enough. Genre regulars Kelli Maroney, Russell Todd, Barbara Crampton, and John Terlesky are the best of the cast.

Over all, Chopping Mall is a well-done and enjoyable B movie.

*** out of ****

Fmovies: This is one of those 80's films with the cheesy title and box art that draws people like myself to them. A good movie that was thoroughly funny and entertaining with a good splice of sex, action and violence. It's a good movie to watch with friends late on a Friday night for a good laugh.

I remember seeing this movie when it first came out. Talk about high tech. Like Wargames you look at it now and High Tech looks like Colecovision

I have to say this is a very entertaining movie. There were a few Andy Warhol factory people in the movie but mainly the stars were unknown other then Kelly Maroney who had built up a following from her role on the soap Ryan's Hope. I think the lack of marquee names are always a advantage in horror or thriller movies because that means anyone can can killed murdered and maimed.

In the beginning of the movie we see a man give a demonstration about this new security system that he has set up in this mall. It seems that he has employed some robots to do what security guards use to do. We as the viewer know this is not going to be a successful venture. Movies involving computers or robots in the 1980 were always going to be a recipe for disaster.

There is a bad storm and for some reason the robots go haywire. Meantime we have a big party brewing for later on with some of the teenagers working in the mall. One is a new teenager to the area and she is persuaded to tag a long. We know since there are no stars in the movie she will be the smart one. Seems that furniture stores in malls double as hotels for teenage parties at night. A pretty good idea if you are a teenager who works at a relatives furniture store.

Well of course there are 4 boys and 4 girls. It looks like one teenage couple is married, but I never could figure that out. Kelly Maroney the new girl in town gets paired off with the male nerd character. They like each other, they remain content looking at TV while their friends are cavorting Now this is from Teenage horror movie 101,. The couple who has sex first or is involved in taking drugs or drinking too much are the first to get killed. And the formula is in effect here. Seems one of the girls want a cigarette and asks her boyfriend to leave the store and get some out of the machine. She bares her breast and right then and there she was doomed. We know as viewers the kill bots are already causing havoc.

The boyfriend gets killed and the girlfriend goes looking for him and while the other teens at the party witness her screaming on seeing her boyfriend they also witness her grizzly death. All hell breaks loose from then on. I am not going to spoil it and tell what happens. Just hold on to your seats. The movie doesn't stop to take a breathe for a second.

This is a textbook movie about how to make a good thriller. It only last 75 minutes and that is all it needs to be. So many thrillers are so over blown and bogged down with stories you forget you are suppose to be scared, thrilled and on the edge of your seat. Yes the the kill bots are really cheesy. But there is always something creepy about machines going bad.

The new title Chopping Mall is misleading because there is not too much hacking and chopping, but more like people being killed by lasers and electricity. The original title was more appropriate..Killbots. A very good little thriller that does its job.

Chopping Mall fmovies. 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.

I don't know, but I really enjoyed this. "I like pepperoni." The unpredictability of the lasers....wow. Having them bounce off most of the time and then suddenly busting out the whooping stick and taking someone's head off...that was glorious. I mean, you'd think that they could have different colors or something for when the lasers change from "good for scratching itches" to "incredibly destructively lethal beams of death". Awesome premise for the movie, too, I mean, I can TOTALLY see a day in the future when all security is taken over by lethal security robots. As a matter of fact, right NOW, I think I'll go set about making that happen.

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".