CHOPPING MALL

Chopping Mall Movie Review

A shopping mall brings in three robots to patrol the grounds. The same night, a group of teens decide to stick around the mall for a while after it closes. What could possibly go wrong? This is one of those movies that, for as long as I live, will remind me of seeing the cover for the VHS in video stores in my much younger days. If you're too young to remember, there was this weird obsession with robots in the 1980s. Everybody was certain we were on the verge of robots and computers taking over the world--I won't get into any arguments about how accurate these fears turned out to be (the next time you are in a crowded place, look up from your phone and you may find the answer for yourself), but the result was a lot of movies that touched on the matter--this movie may remind you a bit of Short Circuit, a lot of RoboCop, and tons of Maximum Overdrive, and if it does, think about this--Chopping Mall hit theatres in March 1986, Short Circuit two months later, and Maximum Overdrive two months after that--RoboCop came out a year later. 

A killbot

Back to our story--naturally, the robots begin killing people, and it's up to the teens to fight back. This movie is filled with some of the stuff we love from the 80s, from the robots themselves to the laser beams they shoot to the awesome 80s horror music--it's all here. The acting is terrible, but that only adds to the undeniable charm of the film. With the exception of an exploding head, the death scenes are somewhat mild, and this movie does lean more toward science fiction than horror--there's also a good bit of comedy thrown in. The dialogue is shaky, but we have certainly sat through worse. A 1980s favorite, Dick Miller (Gremlins, The Howling), makes a cameo, and you'll probably recognize our lead, Kelli Maroney, from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Night of the Comet. Chopping Mall is a lot of fun to watch for another reason--the mall itself. If you were to go to a shopping mall today, you would never believe how popular they were in the 80s, so seeing one as a setting for a movie is nice--checking out the names of some of the stores is cool, and I was delighted to see one named for famed writer/director Sam Peckinpah. Both the robots and the teens wreak havoc on the entire mall, making me wonder what it must have been like for all the employees to come in and see this the next morning. 

I'm sure it was shocking

Let's make no mistake--Chopping Mall is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it's awfulness in all the right ways make it a riot. If you're a fan of 1980s sci-fi, or even if you're looking for a nostalgic kick, check this movie out. 

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

Chopping Mall Movie Trailer