Chopping Mall

Chopping Mall
Chopping Mall poster art
Directed by	Jim Wynorski
Produced by	Julie Corman
Written by	Jim Wynorski Steve Mitchell
Starring	Kelli Maroney Tony O'Dell John Terlesky Russell Todd Karrie Emerson Barbara Crampton Suzee Slater Nick Segal
Music by	Chuck Cirino
Cinematography	Tom Richmond
Editing by	Leslie Rosenthal
Distributed by	Concorde Pictures
Release date(s)	March 21, 1986 (USA)
Running time	77 min. 95 min (original release)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$800,000 (estimated)
Box office	Unknown

Chopping Mall is an American horror/science fiction film, produced by Julie Corman and originally released on March 21, 1986^[1] under the title Killbots.^[2]

Upon release, the movie did poorly at the box office. It did better when it was re-released as Chopping Mall. It's about killer security robots taking over a shopping mall and murdering teenage employees. The term killbot is never actually mentioned during the movie.

Jim Wynorski directed the movie and wrote it with Steve Mitchell. It was filmed mostly at Sherman Oaks Galleria, with occasional set shots (e.g., the paint store). The movie starred Kelli Maroney (who appeared in Night of the Comet and the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope) and Tony O'Dell (from the TV series Head of the Class). Roger Corman and his wife, Julie, produced it. Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov share a cameo as their characters from Eating Raoul, Paul and Mary Bland.^[3]

There are at least two different versions of the movie. The TV cut has some extra footage, like a small homage to Attack of the Crab Monsters, extended scenes of Ferdy and Allison watching TV, some aerial shots, and an extension of one of the Ferdy/Allison scenes. This is one of those rare times when the TV edit has more than a few extra seconds of footage over the theatrical version, but no official source offers this version.

Plot synopsis

Park Plaza Mall has just installed a state-of-the-art security system, which includes security shutters across all exits, and three high-tech security robots, programmed to disable (using tasers and tranquilliser guns) and apprehend would-be thieves.

Four couples decide to have a party in one of the furniture stores where three of them work. They all stay after hours at the mall, drinking, partying, and eventually three of the couples have sex in the furniture store beds, while the fourth couple, Alison and Ferdy, watch old science fiction films on TV.

Outside, a lightning storm strikes the mall several times and damages the computer controlling the security robots, which kill their technicians and a janitor, before going on regular patrol in the now empty mall. Two of the teens leave the furniture store to buy cigarettes, and are subsequently killed by the robots - now the killbots of the movies original title. The surviving teens witness the killbots kill Linda, and break into a sporting goods store ("Peckinpah's") to arm themselves, whilst the girls take petrol and flares from an automotive store. During the firefight two more of the group are killed as the killbots utilise their lasers which were intended to cut through debris & rubble in their path.

The teens destroy the first killbot by luring it into a lift which they have booby-trapped, and decide to make their way to level 3 of the mall where the killbots' control centre is located. En route they are ambushed by the second killbot, and destroy it, not however before it kills both Leslie and Greg, leaving Alison and Ferdy in the storage areas of the mall. The third and final killbot corners Alison who is rescued when Ferdy shoots it point blank, damaging its laser, and setting himself up as a target instead - the killbot strikes and appears to kill him as Alison escapes.

Alison falls to the lower mall injuring her leg, and sets another trap for the killbot in a paint store, by mixing paint and chemicals from the shelves. She goads the killbot into the store where it becomes stuck - its tracks unable to find traction on the spilled paint and thinners - and throws the flare into the store where the volatile chemicals explode, destroying the final killbot. As she leaves the store, she hears Ferdy call her from the upper mall, revealing that although covered in blood, he is still alive.

Cast

• Kelli Maroney as Alison Parks
• Tony O'Dell as Ferdy Meisel
• John Terlesky as Mike Brennan
• Russell Todd as Rick Stanton
• Karrie Emerson as Linda Stanton
• Barbara Crampton as Suzie Lynn
• Suzee Slater as Leslie Todd
• Nick Segal as Greg Williams
• Mary Woronov as Mary Bland
• Paul Bartel as Paul Bland
• Dick Miller as Walter Paisley
• Jim Wynorsky as Killbots (voice)

References

1. ^ Chopping Mall at the Internet Movie Database
2. ^ IMDB - Trivia - Chopping Mall
3. ^ Allmovie - Chopping Mall - Overview

External links

• Chopping Mall at the Internet Movie Database