A mall has just been presented with a state of the art new security systemtreaded, laser-beam-equipped robots. Unfortunately, during THE most unconvincing lightening storm in cinema history, the robots go crazy and begin killing off teens that sneaked in after hours to party. "Chopping Mall" (AKA "Killbots") comes from genre hack Jim Wynorski, who's other credits include the immensely trashy "The Curse of the Komodo" and "Raptor". "Chopping Mall" is by far better than most movies he's made, though it still isn't great.
There's a nice cast of familiar genre faces (including Barbara Crampton and an amusing cameo by Dick Miller as a cranky janitor), a corny electronic 80's score, and I'll admit the robot effects are actually pretty well done on a low budget (though I did find the robot design to be a little too cute to be threatening). Unfortunately, with the exception of a decent slit throat and an OK exploding head, there's a disappointing absence of gore and the majority of the cast gave bad to awful performances.
Clocking in at a brisk 77 minutes, "Chopping Mall" isn't a bad way to waste some time if you're a horror fan, though there are better killer robot flicks out there (See Terminator 2 and 3, Moontrap or even the 1997 box-office bomb, Virus).
4/10.
There's a nice cast of familiar genre faces (including Barbara Crampton and an amusing cameo by Dick Miller as a cranky janitor), a corny electronic 80's score, and I'll admit the robot effects are actually pretty well done on a low budget (though I did find the robot design to be a little too cute to be threatening). Unfortunately, with the exception of a decent slit throat and an OK exploding head, there's a disappointing absence of gore and the majority of the cast gave bad to awful performances.
Clocking in at a brisk 77 minutes, "Chopping Mall" isn't a bad way to waste some time if you're a horror fan, though there are better killer robot flicks out there (See Terminator 2 and 3, Moontrap or even the 1997 box-office bomb, Virus).
4/10.