So the plot is pretty much fluff, there's something about a group of 'teenagers' who decide to throw a sleepover party in a giant mall after closing hours, and wouldn't ya just know it they pick the one night that the mall's brand new futuristic security robots are activated by a stray bolt of lightning that messes up their programming and causes them to go murderously awry and eliminate everyone that they come across! So I've gone back and forth a bit over the years in regards to how I feel about this movie, I just hated it when I saw it as a kid and I remember being very disappointed after being taken in by some very awesome and classic vhs cover art that showed a cold killer hand of steel holding up a gruesome goodie bag of body parts and it gave the impression that the movie was some kind of slasher! When I watched it I just found it really lame and dumb and I couldn't get into it...but at some point it's grown on me and I now kind of enjoy it just because it's so much hokey fun, I like how it's very unpretentious and even earnest in what it sets out to do, just hopefully give you a good time and a few grim laughs with hapless pretty young people being chased around a mall and laser blasted by merciless killer-cans! It's a rather short movie and there's not all that much to it, but it does feel done and wrapped up by the time it's over and they tell you everything you need to know fast before getting down to the havoc and it keeps up a fun nonstop pace right until the end. I really like the silly robots, they worked well for what they were, not the brightest and most interesting evil robots ever put to film but very fun, they were like a cross between a Darlek, a bit of Robocop perhaps, and the psychotic programming of ED-209! I love the recurring gag of their backward programming having them still be polite to people even as they're eliminating them, these crazy killer-cans will blast you into oblivion, then thank you! A big plus is just how great a big mall always is for all kinds of horror mayhem and the one in this movie was put to good use! I think you may have to have a bit of an appreciation for cheese to truly love a movie like this but overall it's really not too bad if you just enjoy it on that level of silly fun, sure a lot of things could have done with some touch ups but for me the sheer magnificent eighties-ness of it all really shines through, and it was just campy, witty and gory enough to keep me interested and have a good time with it. Stupid and senseless, but also a genuinely fun and entertaining crazy old horror sci-fi movie that actually delivers once the treads get rolling! X
Review of Chopping Mall
