ThiefHott Too much of everything

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

MisterWhiplash Chopping Mall is one of those terrific, ludicrous, total schlock classics, and through it's commitment to not giving a damn it's among the most fiercely 80s pieces of joyful action-horror of Roger Corman's producing career at Concorde studios. The real credit goes to co-writer/director Jim Wynorski, who probably came up with the title, not to mention the poster and the tagline, before the script, and that's more than fine. In 76 minutes, Wynorski and the cast (Barbara Crampton!) and crew take on the perfect attitude for what they have to do: assemble two to three robots (I assume from looking at the shots and how theyre edited there's supposed to be four but they could only make two), get them struck by lightning - so it's kind of pre-Robocop Ed209 and a slice of Short Circuit, but really its own over the top B movie feast without much satire on its mind - and have some near 30 year old's in perms and mullets in disguise as uh, teenagers or at best 20 year old's running all night in a locked down mall. And if it isn't funny - intentionally or not - it has moments of genuinely strong direction... And some that are not. It came, it saw, it kicks all kinds of robo-marauding ass. It's Wynorski's finest more than an hour.

bensonmum2 With a name like Chopping Mall and the poster and box-art I'd seen for years, I've always assumed that the film was a cheap slasher. I'm shocked to discover that, instead, it's a cheap killer-robot movie. In Chopping Mall, the owners of the titular mall have decided to install robot security guards to patrol the building overnight. A freak lightning storm, however, fries the robots' main computer. The robots that were originally designed to protect and defend have been turned into unstoppable killing machines. As luck would have it, a group of teens is having an unauthorized after-hours party in the mall. The party comes to an abrupt end, however, when the teens are interrupted by the trio of killer robots. Can the teens make it through the night and escape?Chopping Mall is a tough one for me to rate. In all honesty, it's a pretty bad movie. It's got all the problems I've come to associate with a low-budget 80s horror film. And while I could go on and on about the issues I have with the film (acting, dialogue, stupid characters, etc), it's too much fun not to enjoy. Chopping Mall is fast-paced, filled with plenty of action, and includes a couple of fantastic special effect shots - including an amazing head explosion. I got a real kick out of seeing the cameos from Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov in the opening scene. And the whole 80s-vibe to the film is really appealed to me. The opening montage is like a documentary look at 80s mall culture. All of this leads to a fairly entertaining experience. The film, however, is far from perfect. I've listed a couple of issues I have with Chopping Mall, but my biggest complaint is the logic behind these robots. Unfortunately, I couldn't get this logic issue out of my mind the entire time I was watching the movie. This mall appears to be a fairly typical 1980s-era suburban mall. I can't imagine that a mall like this had very much overnight crime. At least not enough to warrant the cost of putting in this incredibly elaborate security system. A system like this one - complete with three combat-ready robots, a giant supercomputer, locking steel doors, and a couple of full-time computer programmers - would most likely cost more to install and maintain than it did to build the mall in the first place. It's completely ridiculous.

Leofwine_draca CHOPPING MALL is a surprisingly good little B-movie from a director hardly known for making films of cinematic excellence. It's a simplistic thing, as short as you'd expect, but having the appearance of a decent budget for once as the film is chock full of laser and electric effects and the like which stand up with the best fare from the decade.The great thing about this film is that it gets to the point straight away. A bunch of big-haired teens are locked inside a shopping mall at night with three security guard robots that have become murderous due to a short circuit caused by a lightning strike. Madness and mayhem follows, with an exceptionally fast pacing and a decent round of special effects to keep the viewer entertained throughout.Like Fred Olen Ray, director Jim Wynorski has spent decades cranking out one cheap B-movie after another for seemingly a few bucks at a time. Like Ray before him, his most interesting works are the ones he made at the beginning of his career, and CHOPPING MALL might be the best of the bunch. The cast isn't too shabby either, with Barbara Crampton one of the imperilled teens and cameos for the likes of Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, Gerrit Graham, and Dick Miller. Horror fans will lap it up.

bowmanblue Think about it: you're considering watching a film called 'Chopping Mall.' Are you seriously expecting a great, original plot with fantastic character development and Oscar-winning special effects? I hope not. If you are then you really shouldn't watch this. This is truly terrible. And I loved it.It's about a mall (surprise, surprise) where the owners employ robots to guard it at night. These robots look like a cross between a Cylon and something out of 'Silent Running.' Anyway, just when they're commissioned, they only get struck by a freak lightning storm, turning them from honourable guardians of the night to psychotic killers (always the way, huh?).If this isn't bad enough then a bunch of kids hang back after work to indulge in pre-marital sex. You can probably guess they don't live to regret their kinky, decadent decision. You have every cliché here going - characters who you can tell exactly how and when they'll die, kids having sex and drinking then getting killed, cheesy dialogue and much, much more. For the first half an hour the film is pretty dull, not even worthy of a cult classic. However, at about the half hour mark, a woman gets her head blown to bits (classic!) and it all picks up from there. What you have is one daft chase after the next with robots who clearly need shooting lessons and kids who suddenly become Rambos when they raid a gun store.It's stupid. It's awful. It's a terrible film. And, if you know and appreciate that, you may love it as much as I do.