Chopping Mall (1986)

I stumbled upon Chopping Mall many times over the years but, since I already had my share of cheap 1980s horror movies for that year, I always passed it. This year I focused more on quality horrors and I picked this one to be the crappy one. 

The film takes place in a mall where a new security system has been presented which includes three high-tech robots programmed to disable and apprehend thieves. Four couples of teenagers, Rick (Russell Todd) and Linda (Karrie Emerson), Greg (Nick Segal) and Suzie (Barbara Crampton), Mike (John Terlesky) and Leslie (Suzee Slater), and Ferdy (Tony O'Dell) and Allison (Kelli Maroney), decide to have a late night party in one of the store. They are enjoying themselves, having sex, drinking and all, when a lightning storm strikes, the robots start malfunctioning and go on a killing spree. 

The plot of the film is just as stupid and predictable as it is in any other cheesy horror film. Not only this is annoying but it's also quite infuriating because so much could have been done with the idea but it ends up being the typical, clichéd and boring horror plot where something/someone goes on a killing spree targeting teenagers. 

Same goes for the characters, they couldn't be any more clichéd than this --there's the annoying kind of frat guy, the nerd, the promiscuous girl, the sweet girl. I have to say though, apart from the cocky frat guy who I hated with all of my heart, they are not those characters you can't wait to see die. It's not like you care for them either but you don't have that desire to see them dead as you usually have with these characters. And I guess the credits go to the cast. They don't give great performances or anything but they are kinda likeable.

Concorde Pictures

As for the horror, if you are looking for a scary film, Chopping Mall definitely isn't for you as the film is not scary and there isn't even a decent amount of gore. If you are looking for something so stupid that actually ends up being kind of funny, then it's definitely something you could waste your time with. The special effects are so silly they are laughable --the killer robots look like a retarded version of R2-D2. But I guess they are pretty well done considering the film's budget. At last, the electronic score is corny as hell.