Vestron Video: Chopping Mall (1986) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Lionsgate

Cult New York based exploitation filmmaker Jim Wynorski, best known for his tenure with B-movie producing legend Roger Corman resulting in such fare as The Lost Empire or Deathstalker II and eventually The Return of Swamp Thing, is a trash filmmaking wunderkind spoken of the same breath as Frank Henenlotter, Andy Sidaris or Amir Shervan.  Gleefully blasting away at softcore kitschy exploitation horror on meager budgets, Wynorski is synonymous with the 80s sexploitation interspersed with explosions and gore, effectively a beer-and-pizza filmmaker.  His second feature film as a writer-director, Killbots (later renamed Chopping Mall after poor test screenings) about an armada of killer robots intended for nightly shopping mall security run murderously amok, might in fact be the director’s best feature: a certifiable technology-gone-awry thriller high on octane, nudity and copious amounts of bloodshed.

 
At a shopping mall in Los Angeles (incidentally the same one used in Commando and Phantom of the Mall) in a company meeting, the owners roll out a new advanced security system comprised of Protector 101 series robots which can shoot laser beams from their head and contain powerful claws that can rip and tear at the flesh of any potential burglars.  Only problem is a group of teenagers working the mall decide to stick around the mall grounds after closing its tightly sealed metallic doors for a night of partying.  Compounded with a lightning storm that causes the robots to malfunction, the teenagers’ night quickly turns to a fight for survival as they’re relentlessly pursued by the killer robots throughout the mall grounds, unable to escape beyond its lock and key security system.
 
With its tongue firmly planted in cheek with more than a few Easter Eggs nodding at the Roger Corman empire including a food court covered in Corman/Wynorski movie posters, cameos by Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Dick Miller and Mel Welles, and a pet store with a certain Little Shop name, Chopping Mall from start to finish is snarky high camp with some wild death scenes, sly social satire and a pulsating electronic soundtrack by Chuck Cirino that gives this trashterpiece just the right touch. 

Running at a brisk seventy-six minutes and co-written by Wynorski and Steve Mitchell and produced by Julie Corman, this microbudget $800,000 film is stacked with tons of nifty surprises including talking robots voiced by Wynorski himself, delightfully corny optical effects, slick cinematography by House of 1,000 Corpses director of photography Tom Richmond, and winds up being a taut little movie that more than delivers on its promise of over-the-top cheap thrills.
 
A bit of a loose kid cousin to George A. Romero’s also mall-set horror film Dawn of the Dead as well as a send up of the Friday the 13^th movies with a stoic slasher relentlessly pursuing the oversexed teenagers, the film prominently stars Night of the Comet tough heroine Kelli Maroney as Allison who on a night of partying with coworkers is forced to go into fight-or-flight mode of survival as her friends are picked off one by one by the bots.  Also starring Re-Animator actress Barbara Crompton, Friday the 13^th Part 2 actor Russell Todd and The Karate Kid actor Tony O’Dell, the cast of teens includes a number of actors already synonymous with all things 80s horror related. 

 
One of the few films produced by then-fledgling VHS label Vestron Pictures which was gradually branching out into theatrical distribution, Chopping Mall became a cult favorite on videotape but ran into rights issues over the next few decades, resulting in VHS transfers pressed to DVD with no real hope of a restored print ever seeing the light of day.  But recently, director Wynorski conducted a new print scan from Roger Corman’s personal collection and combined with Lionsgate Films’ efforts to roll out the new Vestron Video brand of cult movies on blu-ray, Chopping Mall finally received its long overdue home video rerelease and provides horror fans unfamiliar with this strangely perfect little gem a chance to discover the trashy fun for themselves.

--Andrew Kotwicki