CHOPPING MALL

1986 was a great year for cheesy horror films. The “slasher” craze was at the top of its game and new horror movies were being cranked out almost weekly - either as “straight-to-video” releases or to cinemas in a very select amount of theaters. Many of these films got lost in the endless parade of new titles and often served no other purpose than to help fill up shelves at the local mom & pop video store. Some were bad, some were good, but all managed to find some type of an audience. To me, one gem stood out in particular and, while overlooked and forgotten about for many years, is now poised to find a new audience thanks to its recent debut on DVD which can finally replace the long out-of-print VHS copies that are scarcely available. That movie is Chopping Mall (a.k.a. Killbots) and it holds the honor (or dishonor - depending on what you think of my taste in movies) of making my list of “Top 10 Favorite Movies Of All Time”.

In the film, a new line of experimental security robots is activated at a popular shopping plaza. Eight teenagers working at this same mall decide to hide out in a mattress store until closing time for an all-night party of drinking and “other things”. During a storm, the control center for these machines is fried by lightning turning the robots into unstoppable killers, trapping the kids inside. So begins one of the most entertaining journeys in the genre of horror films…

Corny, cheap, and gloriously stuck in the 80s, Chopping Mall is a wonderful homage to the decade of excess and mindless entertainment that actually holds up better today than it did during its initial release. A very likeable cast (who are surprisingly good in their roles), a biting sense of humor, non-stop action, a decent (if not implausible) storyline, great robots, cool cameos, and a highly-addictive electro-synth soundtrack help solidify Chopping Mall as the ultimate cult-classic, along with one very important thing: rather than developing a cult following on the basis of being strange or outlandish, Chopping Mall is actually GOOD. I can say without fear of contradiction that watching Chopping Mall will be the best 77 minutes of movie viewing experience you will ever have.

Check your brain at the door. Grab the popcorn. Turn out the lights. Crank your TV. Let Chopping Mall entertain you like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. It’s unforgettable. You’ll love it.

My Score: 9 out of 10