CHOPPING MALL (1986)

GETTING MAULED AT THE MALL NOT A PRETTY SIGHT

Sun-Sentinel - November 3, 1986

Author: CANDICE RUSSELL, Film Writer

Just short of total worthlessness, Chopping Mall is a mean-spirited, savage horror film about robots run amok. A San Fernando Valley shopping mall is the setting for 78 minutes of unrestrained mayhem late one night. Crazed rats in a maze are more interesting to watch than a few couples in a technological nightmare.

Contrary to the print advertisements for the film, Chopping Mall has nothing to do with credit card fanatics getting their comeuppance for rampant consumerism. The victims are kids having a sex party in a furniture store long after the last shopper has gone home. The perpetrators are 2-foot-tall robots programmed as mall security guards, only their circuitry goes whooey in an electrical storm. All they do is zap their human prey and say, "Thank you, have a nice day."

Elevators, stairs, mannequins, air-conditioning ducts, steel doors and other things found in the mall are used by the terrified teens to evade the ravaging robots. Death for humans and machines occurs by means of electrocution, laser beam, fire, bullets, arrows, choking and crushing -- hardly pretty sights. The teens` characters, an ever-dwindling number, might call this violence "gross."

Director Jim Wynorski, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Steve Mitchell, can be credited with a modicum of suspense as the robots speed up to the next victim for instant annihilation. But Chopping Mall is a one-note samba, devoted to chasing, hiding, screaming and murder. Even teensy cameos by actors Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov, that diabolical pair from the camp comedy Eating Raoul, can`t blunt the impression of an unrelenting sadism at work.

MOVIE REVIEW

1/2 STAR) CHOPPING MALL

Teen-age revelers are pursued and destroyed by robots in a shopping mall.

Credits: With Kelli Maroney, Tony O`Dell. Directed by Jim Wynorski. Written by Jim Wynorski and Steve Mitchell.

Rated R Violence, coarse language, sex, nudity.

1 star Poor, 2 stars Fair, 3 stars Good, 4 stars Excellent
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MOVIE REVIEW- Let the (ticket) buyer beware: This `Mall's' a killer

The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution - September 23, 1986

Author: CAIN, SCOTT, Scott Cain Staff Writer: STAFF

Scott Cain reviews the film "Chopping Mall."

"I guess I'm just not used to being chased around the mall in the middle of the night by killer robots." So says one out-of-breath character to another in "Chopping Mall," a horror yarn with a better-developed sense of humor than most.

In fact, there's nothing wrong with "Chopping Mall" that being toned down and shortened and put on "The Twilight Zone" wouldn't cure. At heart, this is a TV program. The film is only an hour and 15 minutes long - but that's too long. There are too many characters and they take too much time to be introduced, only to be bumped off.

"Chopping Mall" was filmed partially at Sherman Oaks Galleria in the Los Angeles area. This is the same mall that Arnold Schwarzenegger tore up in "Commando" and you can't help wondering whether Sherman Oaks makes more money being shattered by movie companies than from retail trade.

In this story, the mall is called Park Plaza 2000 and is newly-equipped with Protector 101 security robots, which look like miniature tanks and have more deadly gadgets than James Bond's company car. During a thunderstorm, the robots malfunction and murder their computer operator and a janitor (played by Dick Miller, a veteran of horror wars). The robots then become aware that teenagers are having an illicit party inside a furniture store.

A crucial difference between "Chopping Mall" and horror movies like "Friday the 13th" is that two of the teenagers are nice. Miracle of miracles! Allison (Kelli Maroney) and Ferdy (Tony O'Dell) exchange sweet flirtations and watch monster movies on TV while their friends are making whoopee on furniture-store beds.

Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov of "Eating Raoul" make an all-too-brief appearance as Mr. and Mrs. Bland, sarcastic merchants. Bartel and Woronov probably filmed their lines in a single day.

The robots, created by Robert Short and dozens of assistants, are credible villains. Only occasionally do you think that an adversary ought to be able to sneak up behind one of them and, if nothing else, topple it on its side.

Among the human actors, the only offensive performance is given by John Terlesky, as Mike, a smug preppie. Terlesky has discovered the scene-stealing potential of chewing gum and, being shameless, works his jaw overtime. Even as he collapses to the floor from wounds inflicted by a robot, his jaw continues to flap.

"Chopping Mall." A science-fiction thriller. Directed and co-written by Jim Wynorski. Rated R for violence, profanity and sexual situations.