CHOPPING MALL REVIEWED
“Chopping Mall” was one of those movies that I only remembered for one scene. Every horror nerd with two VCRs copied that scene where the Killbot blew off the blonde chick’s head. You’ve got to remember something. This was a time when Chopping Mall was easier to obtain on VHS than Scanners. Little video store nerds didn’t know that Cronenberg had put his stamp on head bursts and that Craven was already working up a response. I still have a soft spot for that basketball to the cranium shot.
Still, what makes this film work? There’s an insane amount of upcoming talent among the youth locked in the mall. There’s the 80s robots simply murdering everyone with their Johnny Five head lasers. The truth is intermingled there. But, it honestly belongs to the aesthetic approach. Director Jim Wynorski just knew what he was doing with these movies and I wish that his films still received the same fanfare.
How can you forget the cameos? Paul Bartel, Mary Wornov, Gerrit Graham, Dick Miller and even Angus Scrimm puts in face time at the Chopping Mall. I guess that a lot of this was due to Julie Corman producing the film. Wynorski and company knew how to use these horror throwbacks to great effect. After all, this is just a goofy movie about killer robots at a shopping mall. Why is that so fun?
It’s because Chopping Mall comes from a different time. A time when horror movies weren’t scared of gore and sex. When studios weren’t trying to sell horror to preteens by clipping things down to a PG-13. These movies knew that blood came from Karo Syrup and not what some Cal Arts student could CG fart out of a computer. This is history, people. Live it, love it and buy it now!
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Multiple commentaries
- Isolated Score Track
- Trailer
- Featurettes
A/V STATS
- 1.85:1 1080p transfer
- DTS-HD Mono