Those of you horror fiends out there who were not able to experience firsthand the home video boom of the early 1980’s, it really was a wondrous time to find tons of low-budget horror flicks that you never would’ve had a chance to see otherwise. One of these flicks was director Jim Wynorski’s second film, Chopping Mall from 1986. It’s a great B-movie cult classic about killer robots gone amok in a shopping mall. News from the Wynorski and producer Bill Dever camp says the film will be getting a theatrical re-release in the near future. You can read on for more details.
From The Press Release
On March 21st, 1986, a film was released by legendary producer Roger Corman that today still is recognized as a genre classic. Chopping Mall, produced by Julie Corman and helmed by exploitation wunderkind Jim Wynorski, was released during the VHS/home video explosion and would change the way the business perceived the place of genre titles within this emerging marketplace.
The film tells the story of killer security robots taking over a shopping mall and systematically murdering a group of trespassing teenagers who have broken into the mall for an all-night party. Four couples decide to have a party in one of the furniture stores where three of them work. They all stay after hours at the mall, drinking, partying, and making out, while the fourth couple watch old science fiction films on TV.
Outside, a lightning storm strikes the mall several times and damages the computer controlling the security robots. The robots kill two technicians and a janitor before going on regular patrol in the now empty mall. Two of the teens leave the furniture store and are subsequently killed by the robots. The surviving teens witness the robots kill a girl in via a still talked about head explosion, and the men and women are forced to separate, the men into the mall and the women into the air ducts, when the robots begin their final attack.
Directed by Wynorski, who co-wrote with longtime friend Steve Mitchell, Chopping Mall was filmed primarily at the infamous Sherman Oaks Galleria, famous for appearing in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The movie stars Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, “Ryan’s Hope”) and Tony O’Dell. B-movie icons Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, and Dick Miller, fixtures in the Corman stable, have cameos in the film.
While the film did moderate theatrical business, where it really made an impact was in the burgeoning home video marketplace. Released through Lightning Video, the B-movie label owned by Vestron, Chopping Mall was equipped with compelling box art created by artist Corey Wolfe. It proved to rental outlets that B-movies coupled with great box art could easily outperform mainstream studio-produced fare and could have longer shelf lives. The title’s artwork screamed, “Rent me!” to America’s VHS-hungry public, and they consumed it hungrily. It could be argued that lying within the success of Chopping Mall laid the foundation for the next decade’s video rental industry.
Fast forward to 2013, Jim Wynorski and producer Bill Dever decided that with the transition to digital delivery now employed by ninety percent of movies theaters, it was time to re-introduce Chopping Mall to North American theaters. “I was always amazed that every recent showing of Chopping Mall always turned into an event,” says Jim Wynorski. “People really love the movie, and for me, the guy who directed the film, that’s just great”.
With the kind support of Roger and Julie Corman, Wynorski and Dever obtained the original film elements and under the careful eye of Jim Wynorski brought the film back to its original glory. “This is a dream come true, to play a small part in the restoration of a piece of classic American cinema is just amazing,” tells Bill Dever. “Not only is Chopping Mall pure movie fun, it’s also in many ways an important film.”
So with the help of Roger and Julie Corman, Jim Wynorski’s Chopping Mall will once more grace theater screens again, reminding movie-going audiences of a time when movies were just fun…
Watch the trailer for Chopping Mall here:
