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Chopping Mall
(Robot/Teen/Mall/Slasher) 4****skulls
*Blood* *Violent* *Strong Language* *Nudity* *Sexual Situations* *Gory*
1986/Color/77 Min./Lightning Video & Trinity Pictures/Concorde Pictures/Rated R
Director...........Jim Wynorski
Screenplay.....Jim Wynorski & Steve Mitchell
Music..............Chuck Cirino
Producer.........Julie Corman
Executive Producer.....
Special Effects and Makeup by Roger George & Anthony Showe
Killbots Created by Robert Short
Dramatis Personae
Allison.............Kelli Maroney
Marty...............Tony O'Dell
Mike................John Terlesky
Russell Todd....
Linda...............Karrie Emerson
Suzy................Barbara Crampton
Leslie..............Suzee Slater
Wallace..........Nick Segal
Mrs. Bland......Mary Woronov
Mr. Bland........Paul Bartell
Walter Paisley.Dick Miller
Critique: Here's the idea, take the "Short Circuit" theory that mindless robots can become sentient if struck by lightning and add in some Robo-Cop jokes and put the whole thing in a mall and you have a horror film for Mall rats. We wondered how this seemed a good idea to anyone. The result is grudgingly classifiable as a horror movie. Nice immolation scene. The single character who had and deserved a first and a last name was a janitor who gets a short scene in which he takes his job too seriously and is subsequently electrocuted by one of the protectors. This also is one of the few mildly memorable scenes. We feel this was really the story of Walter Paisley, and his Aristotelian imperfection, who tries to do good is ignobly murdered for his efforts. These kids were so unattractive that we would have applauded if their demise was as gruesome as the title and cover art promise. We wanted to see these spoiled brats dismembered for their vacuity. But no! Laser beams? Remember the horror rules, no motorcycles, electric guitars, great apes or laser beams. What possesses our friends to keep using small arms against these obviously impervious robots?
Plot Summary: In a promotional video for Secure-Tronics A jewel thief steals from a mall store when he is killed by one of the "protector" series. Suzy and Allison work in the mall pizzeria where one night lightning strikes bringing about a malfunction in the robot security staff system. Wallace and girlfriend, Michael and Leslie, Mr. Todd's daughter, Marty. The big party in the Furniture King. The rest of the maintenance crew likes to make fun of Walter Paisley, an overzealous cleaner but a robot electrocutes him and his story line. Mike goes to get cigarettes and gets killed by a robot. As the terrified friends look on tit Bimbette gets her head blown off. Having now discovered the size of the problem, protector 1 calls for reinforcements and along with two and three blow the mall to smithereens in an attempt to top the intruders. The robots seal all entrances electronically, and the survivors have to plan on running until six in the morning when the doors are unlocked. As the girls climb into an air duct the boys break into a sporting goods store and arm themselves with automatic weapons. After a lengthy gun battle, the boys employ a jaws maneuver shooting a propane tank at the robot's feet. As the boys attempt to break into an elevator, the girls use gas cans to prepare bombs but the plot blows up in their faces when Suzy's molotov is ignited by a robot reducing the resistance to five. Propane tanks upon the elevator take out another robot. Suzie's boyfriend can't stand hiding and insists that they search out the other protector with predictable results. Linda. The group holes out in a department store, but the remaining robot cuts through. Their stratagem of confusing it by hiding behind mannequins appears to work well until some of the protagonists decide to stand out in the open. Soon we're down to the predictable two survivors for the grand finale as the virginal heroine pits herself against the remaining robot while the hero plays possum.
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