It has been longer than I intended to get another review in here. Part of the reason is I just wasn't sure what I wanted to watch. I have plenty of stuff to watch, but I just kept changing my mind about it and getting nowhere. I decided I was going to watch a movie today no matter what! I ended up watching Chopping Mall (1986), which is a movie I have always wanted to watch. I have no idea why that is, but it's true. It is currently on Amazon Prime's streaming service, so it seemed like a good time to go ahead and give it a watch.
A group of teens that work at their local mall has decided that they will throw a party in one of the stores...after hours of course. Alison (Kelli Maroney) is talked into going by her best friend Suzy (Barbara Crampton) in order to be Ferdy's (Tony O'Dell) blind date. Suzy will be meeting up with Greg (Nick Segal), along with Mike (John Terlesky) and Leslie (Suzee Slater) and married couple Rick (Russell Todd) and Linda (Karrie Emerson). The mall has recently added three robots that are programmed to protect the mall in a non-lethal way. All employees have to do is show their badges and the robots will scan them. Except that, on this night there is a bad storm out. Lightning hits the building more than once which seems to mess with the robots in a not so good way. Will the teens survive the night?
Chopping Mall was co-written by Steve Mitchell and Jim Wynorski, who also directed. This movie isn't all that I thought it would be, but it isn't really bad at least. It had some nice surprises in it, mostly with the cast. The story wasn't too bad. There wasn't much character development to be found, but the characters are still easy to get behind for the most part. We don't get to see much of the party that they are having. Some dancing and we see where Alison is introduced to Ferdy. What kind of name is Ferdy anyway? I thought maybe it was a nickname but apparently, it is that characters actual first name. Anyway, after they everyone but Alison and Ferdy end up having sex. Each couple isn't all that far from the others, which surprised me a bit. Once the robots start their attack on our teen group, the film turns more into an action film and not so much a horror movie. I suppose being chased by killer robots is horror enough. I was getting rather annoyed with the action at times. Sure, our group comes up with plans to defeat the robots, which are rather questionable at times. I mean, did they really believe catching a robot on fire would do much to it? I think what bugged me the most is how our group would keep shooting the robots even though it did nothing. They could obviously outrun the things so I didn't see the point of wasting time to shoot at the robots. The robots could also shoot what looked like some kind of laser beam, but they rarely did much damage. I wondered what the mall looked like after this big battle because these beams sure did miss their target a lot and they had to hit something. Despite my problems with Chopping Mall, it was still a fun watch. I liked that they didn't just run away all the time and did at least try to find ways to fight back. I understand that they are somewhat limited by being in a mall. At the same time, I was very surprised by the weapons they did come up with.
The effects aren't as bloody as I thought they might be. I was rather disappointed with the laser beams that the robots shot out. Maybe it was because they aren't actually supposed to kill so the beams aren't all that strong. Even so, they do manage to explode one head completely. That was the biggest effect besides explosions and such. It was well done at least. There are also cuts from the robot trying to grab a person, with one that spurts out blood at one point. The acting is pretty good here. I liked all the leads and was surprised to see Kelli Maroney. I remember her from Night Of The Comet mostly. It was great to see her in another horror film. I also liked Russell Todd a lot in this movie. Others I was surprised to see were Paul Bartel, Dick Miller, and Gerrit Graham. All have small roles, but it was still cool to see them in this movie.
Chopping Mall is a slasher in a way. If it wasn't for the killers to be robots that just roll around and sometimes shoot laser beams, it would fit right in with the slasher genre. Which makes sense as this was made during the slasher golden age. It was a different kind of horror film, one that isn't visited very often. It was nice to visit a film from the '80s. It has been a long time since I have done so. While I wasn't really impressed with Chopping Mall, I'm still glad that I was able to give it a watch at long last. If you have never given it a watch either, perhaps you should. It is a fun watch, to say the least. If you have watched it already, maybe it is time to give it another watch! I know I probably will someday.
3 out of 5 I've always enjoyed playing laser tag
A group of teens that work at their local mall has decided that they will throw a party in one of the stores...after hours of course. Alison (Kelli Maroney) is talked into going by her best friend Suzy (Barbara Crampton) in order to be Ferdy's (Tony O'Dell) blind date. Suzy will be meeting up with Greg (Nick Segal), along with Mike (John Terlesky) and Leslie (Suzee Slater) and married couple Rick (Russell Todd) and Linda (Karrie Emerson). The mall has recently added three robots that are programmed to protect the mall in a non-lethal way. All employees have to do is show their badges and the robots will scan them. Except that, on this night there is a bad storm out. Lightning hits the building more than once which seems to mess with the robots in a not so good way. Will the teens survive the night?
Chopping Mall was co-written by Steve Mitchell and Jim Wynorski, who also directed. This movie isn't all that I thought it would be, but it isn't really bad at least. It had some nice surprises in it, mostly with the cast. The story wasn't too bad. There wasn't much character development to be found, but the characters are still easy to get behind for the most part. We don't get to see much of the party that they are having. Some dancing and we see where Alison is introduced to Ferdy. What kind of name is Ferdy anyway? I thought maybe it was a nickname but apparently, it is that characters actual first name. Anyway, after they everyone but Alison and Ferdy end up having sex. Each couple isn't all that far from the others, which surprised me a bit. Once the robots start their attack on our teen group, the film turns more into an action film and not so much a horror movie. I suppose being chased by killer robots is horror enough. I was getting rather annoyed with the action at times. Sure, our group comes up with plans to defeat the robots, which are rather questionable at times. I mean, did they really believe catching a robot on fire would do much to it? I think what bugged me the most is how our group would keep shooting the robots even though it did nothing. They could obviously outrun the things so I didn't see the point of wasting time to shoot at the robots. The robots could also shoot what looked like some kind of laser beam, but they rarely did much damage. I wondered what the mall looked like after this big battle because these beams sure did miss their target a lot and they had to hit something. Despite my problems with Chopping Mall, it was still a fun watch. I liked that they didn't just run away all the time and did at least try to find ways to fight back. I understand that they are somewhat limited by being in a mall. At the same time, I was very surprised by the weapons they did come up with.
The effects aren't as bloody as I thought they might be. I was rather disappointed with the laser beams that the robots shot out. Maybe it was because they aren't actually supposed to kill so the beams aren't all that strong. Even so, they do manage to explode one head completely. That was the biggest effect besides explosions and such. It was well done at least. There are also cuts from the robot trying to grab a person, with one that spurts out blood at one point. The acting is pretty good here. I liked all the leads and was surprised to see Kelli Maroney. I remember her from Night Of The Comet mostly. It was great to see her in another horror film. I also liked Russell Todd a lot in this movie. Others I was surprised to see were Paul Bartel, Dick Miller, and Gerrit Graham. All have small roles, but it was still cool to see them in this movie.
Chopping Mall is a slasher in a way. If it wasn't for the killers to be robots that just roll around and sometimes shoot laser beams, it would fit right in with the slasher genre. Which makes sense as this was made during the slasher golden age. It was a different kind of horror film, one that isn't visited very often. It was nice to visit a film from the '80s. It has been a long time since I have done so. While I wasn't really impressed with Chopping Mall, I'm still glad that I was able to give it a watch at long last. If you have never given it a watch either, perhaps you should. It is a fun watch, to say the least. If you have watched it already, maybe it is time to give it another watch! I know I probably will someday.
3 out of 5 I've always enjoyed playing laser tag
