ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - March 21st
"CHOPPING MALL" released in 1986
When eight teenagers are trapped after hours in a high tech shopping mall, they began to later realize that they are being stalked by three murderous out-of-control security robots, Jim Wynorski's cult 80's horror film Chopping Mall!
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When four couples Rick and Linda (Russell Todd and Karrie Emerson), Greg and Suzie (Nick Segal and Barbara Crampton), Mike and Leslie (John Terlesky and Suzee Slater), and Ferdy and Allison (Tony O'Dell and Kelli Maroney) decide to have an after-hour party in one of the furniture stores where three of them work at the Park Plaza Mall, they are unaware that the mall have 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 and apprehend thieves using tasers and tranquilliser guns. While the teens party inside, outside a lightning storm strikes the mall several times and damages the computer controlling the security robots, resulting in them killing their technicians (Gerrit Graham and Morgan Douglas), as well as a janitor, Walter Paisley (Dick Miller), before going on regular patrol in the now-empty mall!
TRIVIA: With the copyright of film's negative tied up in legal limbo, studio Lionsgate released the DVD edition mastered from a Lightning Video VHS master in 2004.
Top and Above: A group of friends decide to have a party after hours inside the mall they work at, unaware that security has just introduced a new security feature - the Protector robots.
Producer Julie Corman originally conceived the idea about a killer in a mall, and soon contacted exploitation/B-movie filmmaker Jim Wynorski to write the screenplay, with co-writer Steve Mitchell. While some reviewers later stated that Wynorski's script was inspired by the 1973 TV movie Trapped, Wynorski would claim he had never seen the movie and was inspired instead by the 1954 film Gog. With the screenplay delivered, Corman selected Wynorski to also direct Chopping Mall. Co-produced by Corman's husband, legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman, Chopping Mall 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), and included the acting debut Rodney Eastman, who later went on to star in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Actors Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov also share a cameo as their characters from the horror-black comedy film Eating Raoul, Paul and Mary Bland.
Given a very limited budget (around $800,000 total), filming was completed in just twenty-two days on location at the Sherman Oaks Galleria (the same mall used in Commando the year before). The filmmakers were given permission to shoot on the provision they film at night after close of business, did not damage any facilities, and had removed any traces of their presence before the mall opening time of 9am. For the scene where the character of Greg was thrown to his death from the third level of the mall, Wynorski volunteered to try the stunt himself first - as long as they set him up from the second level. He completed the stunt successfully but actually found out later 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. During the course of filming, according to Wynorski, the then-head of Galleria security didn't like the filmmakers and was constantly accusing them of causing disrepair; however, the mall's owner was supportive of the production and made sure the filmming was able to complete on schedule.
Given a very limited budget (around $800,000 total), filming was completed in just twenty-two days on location at the Sherman Oaks Galleria (the same mall used in Commando the year before). The filmmakers were given permission to shoot on the provision they film at night after close of business, did not damage any facilities, and had removed any traces of their presence before the mall opening time of 9am. For the scene where the character of Greg was thrown to his death from the third level of the mall, Wynorski volunteered to try the stunt himself first - as long as they set him up from the second level. He completed the stunt successfully but actually found out later 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. During the course of filming, according to Wynorski, the then-head of Galleria security didn't like the filmmakers and was constantly accusing them of causing disrepair; however, the mall's owner was supportive of the production and made sure the filmming was able to complete on schedule.
[repeated line after the robots kill someone]
Killbots: Thank you... have a nice day.
Top and Above: A freak electrical storm causes the Protector robots to malfunction and go on a murderous rampage!
When designing the rogue Protector killbots, the special effects crew - led by special effects supervisor Robert Short, with construction supervisors Michael Novotny and Douglas Turner - actually built five remote controlled robots; 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, with the claws made from plastic toy grippers adapted with electric solenoids. 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.
Initially released by Concorde Pictures under it's original title - Killbots - the film fared poorly at the box office, with the producers fearing the 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 under its new title of Chopping Mall with over 15 minutes cut. On the other hand, the TV cut has some extra footage; such as 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. On November 2011, Dry County Entertainment announced they had acquired the rights to Chopping Mall and are now planning a remake with a supernatural twist, with Kevin Bocarde writing and producing, and Robert Green Hall (the director of Laid To Rest, ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2, and the web series - and the horror feature spin-off - Fear Clinic) helming the new picture.
Initially released by Concorde Pictures under it's original title - Killbots - the film fared poorly at the box office, with the producers fearing the 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 under its new title of Chopping Mall with over 15 minutes cut. On the other hand, the TV cut has some extra footage; such as 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. On November 2011, Dry County Entertainment announced they had acquired the rights to Chopping Mall and are now planning a remake with a supernatural twist, with Kevin Bocarde writing and producing, and Robert Green Hall (the director of Laid To Rest, ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2, and the web series - and the horror feature spin-off - Fear Clinic) helming the new picture.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 57%
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