 Thanks for checking out this no spoilers movie review This is for the 1986 film shopping mall Which when I'm recording this is available for streaming on the shutter streaming service for horror all things horror really so Chomping mall is a cult classic well has become kind of a cult film Obviously didn't do all that well when it came out and then it's one of those films where people like oh my god This is kind of bad, but we love bad now. So Chopping mall is awesome. So I'm a fan of this. I actually own one of the Blu-rays for this film That's how much I enjoy it when it popped up on shutter I was like I have got to do this and I did a poll for it to see if people wanted it and they said yes So awesome awesome. So chopping mall 1986 the director of it was a man by the name of Jim Wynorski Who did films you might know such as Munchie and there was a sequel to Munchie as well as Beastmaster 2 and Then after he did chopping mall, he did a few other things and then he went on to do a bunch of soft-core pornography so and The thing that stuck out to me as I'm looking through as all is IMDB credits was a Series of films called the bear wench project. He actually got three out of that So funny enough more popular I guess than the regular Blair witch because they only got two out of that one So somehow the porn parody of the Blair witch was more successful. Well, not more successful, but within its own Film industry realm more successful as soft-core pornography. So Kind of funny. So Julie Corman. Yes, Roger Corman's wife is one of the main people who worked to make this film happen She had gone to Wynorski and she was like look I want a cheap movie done in a mall Can you do it initially? He was kind of like, yeah, I don't know But she was like hey you can direct you can write it you can direct it. What do you think and he's like, okay? We can go with that we can make it happen And actually the script was actually barely written when the the thumbs up was given by Corman He it was basically just a pitch of a concept Maybe a little bit of a script there and they were just like yep fine. Do it. It's cheap. Let's let's get it done I can't remember how much it was. I think it was $350,000 or something like that definitely under a million. So Yeah, cheap. Uh, I wrote down. It's always wonderful to see Barbara Crampton. Barbara Crampton is in this film If you're not familiar She is on Twitter and I would just follow her on Twitter if you have Twitter because her posts are always so fun So positive. She seems like such a nice person I think she's she's putting out tweets like every single day. So I follow her I really enjoy seeing what she's up to and all the thing that she's saying She recently was doing some behind-the-scenes like photos and videos From the set of the new Castle Freak. Yes, they're doing they are working on a remake of Castle Freak Which she was originally in and I think she's directing I don't know if she's directing or producing this remake But she's involved for sure and so you can check out her Twitter and all the cool things So great to see Barbara Crampton. Love her and everything. She seems like an awesome person this film actually was shot at Sherman Oaks Galleria, which is actually where Fast Times of Ridgemont High was shot as well as the film commando So if people watch this film and they don't know this and they're like this looks familiar It is familiar if you've seen commando or Fast Times of Ridgemont High. I love Fast Times of Ridgemont High I think it's outstanding Before I looked up the information I was watching the film and I was like that model like looks familiar And then when I looked it up, I was like fast times of Ridgemont High totally clicks and I would make sense So this was originally the film was released as kill bots I think it was originally just called robots when they were working on it and then when they released it They called it kill bots didn't do all that well so they actually Released it when they re-released it. They changed it to chopping mall and the story goes that the the name of chopping all mall Was actually given to them by one of the janitors Who worked there who's just like what about chopping mall and they're like, yeah, no sounds good So it actually did better under the name chopping mall. So chopping mall has stuck Obviously kill bots makes more sense for the film than chopping mall But chopping mall just sounds better doesn't it and it grabs your attention a lot more So it makes sense marketing, you know So it didn't do all that well in theaters But it actually did much better once it hit VHS and it hit cable and obviously now it's a cult classic Well, like I was saying a lot of people are into chopping mall when I start talking to horror fans Whenever I run into them when you talk about like bad good movies chopping mall almost always comes up So this is kind of an essential if you're into bad fun horror movies. So So I think it's funny in this film They lay out a lot of the rules of what the film is gonna be and what's gonna happen with it and what can and cannot happen within the the world they're creating the environment they're creating they lay the rules out in the very beginning in a very straightforward way which It's kind of weird because it's kind of too much on the nose But at the same time I also think it's kind of clever the way they present that because it gives everyone all the information up front It's just like this is how things will work in this world before things like really start to get going So I kind of think it's too much on the nose, but I kind of think it's kind of smart. I don't know. It's it's weird Okay, so I love it when it's clearly stated in the beginning of this this is a direct quote Absolutely, nothing can go wrong Now it's funny when you hear those types of things because coming into the film You know things have to go wrong Otherwise you're not gonna watch the film Otherwise, it's gonna be a 10-minute film or something So it's always funny when they have those types of quotes in there We're like absolutely nothing can go wrong because in the audience members are just basically like oh contrary You're gonna get yours Which I don't know if that I don't think that particular individual does But plenty people get there. That's not really a spoiler if you're watching the horror film You know when it's called chopping mall, you know people are gonna die the music is Kind of funny. I actually wrote down that to me it sounds like electronic xylophones At least in the beginning of the film Kind of annoying kind of super hokey like even more hokey than you would assume from an 80s film It's pretty funny But you know it adds more of that kind of campy ridiculous charm to it So this is this film is yet another one of those kind of instances of man's creations Kind of turning on them. This is kind of a Theme that's been done a lot a lot over time in films a lot spawning from you know Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster Made that kind of theme Popular and it's popped up many many times in different iterations And this is just kind of a Frankenstein in a sense But they don't go as deep into like the creation of Frankenstein's monster as you know the source material would go But find that interesting So it's fun Because one of the biggest things about this film and I think one of the reasons I like it so much is that I feel like a lot of people at least if you were you came up in like the 80s Like 70s 80s 90s when malls were a much bigger thing because they're really dying now obviously You know you look back at this film. There's a lot of nostalgia for the for the mall purposes But uh, if you were a fan of malls and you hung out in malls I'm sure you at some point thought about what it would be like to stay there after hours when everything's closed down You have the run of the mall to yourself You can get into the store stuff like that and I feel like this film Kind of fulfills that fantasy In a way. I mean obviously there's bad stuff that's going on too But you see a lot of the mall throughout the film and I think that's one of the strong points of it too Because going into it. It's all about the mall as a setting and they really showcase the mall They go into a lot of different stores. They show a lot of different things And that kind of like for someone like me it really satisfies that curiosity I had because I have always been that type of person who wonders like What would it be like to be in a mall after hours like spend the night there and try and have fun? Or like why something like night at the museum appeals to me as well And a lot of other people is what would it be like to stay at like the smithsonian natural history museum overnight You know those types of things which actually they do that It's you know a lot of money, but but they will do that host like slumber parties at at the uh at the smithsonian It's sounds cool. I'm not going to shell out the money for it, but it sounds cool Anyway, so I just feel like at least for me personally. I'm sure for a few other people that chopping mall kind of I don't want to say Satisfies that that curiosity, but maybe a little bit satisfies the curiosity of being in a mall after hours And and like I said, they show a lot of it, which is very nice and fun And it gives it more of an adventurous feel too, which I like um The slow moving robot scenes though in this film get kind of gratuitous because they are slow Slow slow robots. I mean back in the 80s I guess maybe they were kind of fast for what robots were, but you didn't need to show as many Lengthy scenes as they did with robots just slowly It gets kind of boring, but that's just one of the small grievances I have with this film The kills don't look all that good to be honest the practical effects you can tell were super low budget They're not that great, but they are fun kills They come up with some fun funny ideas and the fact that they don't look good Makes it even more fun and funny nowadays in my opinion. So, um It makes you laugh, you know, like you see it and you're like, uh-huh It because it looks so terrible, you know For how high tech the robots are their aim is garbage. Yes, they have lasers in this I guess that's a small spoiler, but what robots in the 80s didn't have lasers. They all had lasers Their aim is the worst with the lasers and it's like how? um, because they're supposed to be like these amazingly tuned robots who are Outstanding at their job But when they're like shooting lasers and they shoot a lot of them They never hit pretty much and it's just like There'll be like a person standing like right in the center of the scene and the lasers are going all around them and not hitting them It's ridiculous But that's you know Just another one of those charms for how bad this is I like how the mall feels large And small at the same time this goes back to something I say a lot in my videos. I really like In horror movies where people are trapped. They're kind of in a smaller space with the big bad thing or things and um, they can't get out And that's what this does, but it with showing a lot of the mall It makes it feel like a large space, but at the same time because they can't get out and they keep running into Dead ends basically or locked doors It makes it feel small at the same time because they can't really get away They can't get out So it's confined, but it's also large at the same time and I kind of like that dichotomy That's at play in the film So they hit a lot. Oh, yeah, I talked about they hit a lot of stores. I really like that Uh, so if you think about it, you can guess which scenes were shot Actually at the mall versus which were shot in the studio They did a lot of their shooting in the mall And I think they only did like a few days of their actual shooting in studios But if you if you go into the movie thinking about some were shot in studio some were shot in the actual mall You can figure it out if you keep that in mind. Um You'll know what i'm talking about if you check this out. So, uh, overall, um, I really I Really enjoy this like I said, you know, I own the blu-ray. Obviously. I'm a fan of it Um, so this is one of those films that I kind of have to rate twice when I do my five star review Because rate it as an actual film in the pantheon of films and then Also rate it as a fun bad horror film. So as a As an actual film, you know rating it with all other films, you know, you got to give it like a One and a half basically as an actual film Uh, it's not good when you look at it as like an actual like snobby film critic It's not good film. So it would be like one and a half stars But as an awesome horror film, which are some of my favorite films to watch I can't give it a four. I think it's pretty up there. I can't give it quite a five But I can give it a four. It is fun. It is funny It is like crappy that in certain areas that make it funny And the acting actually is not too bad. Like that thing's kind of bad but not too bad Um, but yeah, it's um, it's a fun ride If you if you're watching this and you've never seen chopping mall, I highly recommend it Especially if you like good or if you like bad good horror films. It's uh, it's it's a good time Anyway, thanks everyone for checking this out. If you could please do me a quick favor Hit that subscribe button. It can mean a lot for me. It literally takes you a second Totally totally painless put some comments down there. I'd really like to hear other people's feelings on chopping mall Do you love it? Do you hate it? Do you love it and hate it at the same time? Have you not seen it? And if you haven't seen it, why are you watching this right now? Uh, stop right now and go watch it. Uh, like I said, uh, it's streaming on shutter when I'm doing this So thank you everyone for checking this out until next time. Keep it brutal