Chopping Mall/Killbots

Formerly known as Killbots.

Chopping Mall (originally known as Killbots) is a 1986 sci-fi horror film produced by living legend Roger Corman and directed effectively by Jim Wynorski the films follow the survival story of a group of teens that are locked inside the mall which is protected by five state of the art robots known as "the protectors". 

I have to say this is a very entertaining movie. There were a few Andy Warhol factory people in the movie but mainly the stars were unknown other then Kelly Maroney who had built up a following from her role on the soap Ryan's Hope. I think the lack of marquee names are always a advantage in horror or thriller movies because that means anyone can be killed, murdered, and torn to pieces with no hesitation.

In the beginning of the movie we see a businessman giving a videotaped demonstration about this new security system that he and his crew have built in order to replace the apparently less effective human security guards from shopping malls. Among the demonstration guests you can see almost every single shop owner from the unnamed mall in which such weird meeting is taking place. Now, movies involving computers or robots in the 80's could only mean one thing: mayhem!

We need to protect our business from mall rats.

Enter, the Protectors.

In the city where the mall is, there is a bad electrical storm that hits the mall several times with lightnings that cause the main frame computer that runs the robots to malfunction and bingo! the robots go haywire. In the meantime, unaware of the forthcoming tragedy,  there's a big after hours party  going on behind closed doors. Predictably, these unaware workers will meet their way with the killing machines sooner than later. Now, these protector robots are supposed to recognize the mall workers by asking their ID cards but, since the storm hit their program source hell is about to begin...

This film clearly, follows the path of other successful  movies of its time but, I dare to say Chopping Mall improves the original ideas positively delivering  a fast paced story with no fillers.

This is a textbook movie about how to make a good thriller. It only last 75 minutes and that is all it needs to be. So many thrillers are so over blown and bogged down with stories that you even forget you are supposed to be scared, thrilled and on the edge of your seat. Yes, the the kill bots are really cheesy. But there is always something creepy about machines going bad, don't deny it!

This movie has all of the qualities that you need in order to enjoy a cheesy 80s flick: quite a bit of female nudity, (including a breast shot of Barbara Crampton from Stuart Gordon's classic film RE-ANIMATOR) bad acting, wacky music, and some nice but quick shots of gore and violence. Because of the fact that this movie has sci-fi elements to it, it has a bunch of horrible looking CGI laser effects that are so bad that they are good.

Protect the rich, blast the mall rats!

it's morphin' time! oops! wrong movie pal!

The writing and direction isn't as bad as you would think. There are some movies from the 80s that are so terrible that you can't help but love them. This isn't one of them. You can actually sit back and enjoy Chopping Mall as a horror film, but you can't set your expectations too high. You will also want to keep in mind that it isn't suppose to be a horror film all the way around. It is meant to be a horror/sci fi/ action flick.

Fans of old 80s horror movies will enjoy the cast of actors in this film, which include: Barbara Crampton from "Re-Animator," Kelli Maroney from the crime film "Slayground," Tony O'Dell from "Evils Of The Night," Russell Todd from "Friday The 13th Part 2," and Karrie Emerson who is also from "Evils Of The Night." Even Dick Miller came through the give a quick cameo. (This movie was produced by Roger Corman, after all.) The special effects by Robert Short are cool, but unfortunately most of them were chopped down to quick cuts, therefore leaving most of it in the dark. The movie was directed by Jim Wynorski, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Wynorski went on to make a career out of doing cheesy nudie films. After the 80s, the majority of the actors pretty much disappeared from the film business.

The movie was originally theatrically released in March 1986 under its original title, "Killbots." It performed poorly during its initial release. The producers felt the movie's title might have disinterested audiences, who might think based on the original movie poster that it was a "Transformers"-like children's cartoon instead of a violent exploitation movie. After some time, the movie was re-released on video under its new title with over 15 minutes cut. 

 
It definitely isn't "The Terminator," but it is enjoyable. Recommended for all of the fans of old cheesy 80s flicks.

yeah, boobs!

By the way, boobs!

Chopping Mall behind the scenes.

Director & Stuntman.

When the stunt crew was setting up a scene involving a character being thrown to his death from the third level of the mall, director Jim Wynorski volunteered to try the stunt himself as long as they set him up from the second level. He completed it successfully but found out he'd broken a rib in the process; Wynorski did not tell anyone he had gotten hurt and no one found about it during the remaining production time. 

Spam!

A movie poster of another Jim Wynorski film, The Lost Empire (1985), is seen in the background of many shots in the restaurant.

Kelli the action lady.

Kelli Maroney did most of her own stunts.

Evil claws.

The Killbot claws were made from plastic toy grippers adapted with electric solenoids 

The voice behind the robots.

Director Jim Wynorski provided the voices of the three Protector robots.

VHS to DVD.

The film's negative was tied up in legal limbo, so the Lion's Gate DVD edition of the film was mastered from a Lightning Video VHS master.

Roger Corman Movie Cameo.

The horror movie that Allison (Kelli Maroney) and Ferdy (Tony O'Dell) are watching in the furniture store is Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), another Roger Corman movie. 

They Came From Outer Space.

The book Gerrit Graham's character is reading is "They Came from Outer Space" which was edited by the film's director, Jim Wynorski. One of the stories in the collection is "The Racer" which was filmed as Death Race 2000 (1975) featuring Mary Woronov. 

Fatality!

Eat lead tinman!

Sequel. 

There were talks about making a sequel after the film rallied to do earn decent office returns. 

Special Effects.

The special effects crew actually built five remote controlled robots to serve as the Protector killbots. Three were required for the scenes of the robots together in the first half of the film, with two extras as backups in the event that the originals were damaged during any of the action sequences. In order to keep the robots looking realistic (as well as due to the film's budgetary constraints), they were constructed out of such items as wheelchair frames and pieces of conveyor belt. Excluding shooting laser beams, most of what the killbots are seen doing onscreen was the result of the effects crew operating them via remote control. 

California Mall.

The film was allowed to shoot at a real California mall as long as they did not damage any facilities and had removed any traces of their presence before the mall opening time of 9AM. While the mall's head of security didn't like the filmmakers and was constantly accusing them of causing disrepair, the mall's owner was supportive of the film and made sure the production was able to complete its work on schedule. 

Game over!

Budget.

The budget for the film was very limited (around $800,000 total) but the director had no problems with this, as he was happy to work on a Roger Corman film and knew beforehand that Corman always kept expenses to a minimum. 

Here's the movie trailer:

and here's the movie, courtesy of Youtube: