Marathon of Shops: Chopping Mall (1986)




Horror flourished throughout the 1980s in a way that has not quite been rivaled since.  Not all of the horror movies were good, mind you.  That can be said of any decade.  There are good and bad movies no matter when you are looking at movies.  The difference between the bad horror movies of the 80s and the bad horror movies of the current years could be placed on the shoulders of entertainment.  Most of the bad horror movies that are currently released into theaters lack the entertainment values of movies such as Chopping Mall.  They go more for a good look, but looks are not everything when it comes to movies.

Chopping Mall is a 1986 horror movie starring a bunch of people who I am not going to list off because they did not have great careers and probably are not known to most people.  It was directed by a guy named Jim Wynorski.  The plot is going to sound really odd, knowing that the title of the movie is Chopping Mall.  Some mall workers are trapped inside the mall for the night while killer robots are attacking them with lasers.  Notice that the plot has a lack of chopping.  The name seems to only be what it is for the pun.
The red light is where the lasers come from.
Like I said in the first paragraph, this movie is not great.  The movie is pretty bad, in fact.  The difference between Chopping Mall and most modern bad horror movies is in the entertainment value of what is on screen.  Chopping Mall has loads of entertainment value.  There are explosions.  There is nudity.  There are a lot of bullets used against the robots.  There are robots!  This movie has entertainment value out of every single one of its orifices.  It is ridiculous, it is dumb, it has some bad acting, but it is a lot of fun.

Most modern horror movies that fail either completely miss the scares, or try too hard for a look that they forget to bring substance.  These movies lack the fun that 80s horror tended to have.  Either the movies were scary, or they had enough to them to make them fun.  The newer movies try to be dark, or they make the movies shine.  A polished turd is still a turd, no matter how much you shine it up.
The Stepfather (2009): Too clean looking to have personality.

What makes the older bad movies more watchable?  Why not look at Chopping Mall for examples.  Chopping Mall was not worried about making a PG-13 rating to get as many people to watch it as possible. This allowed for violence and nudity to reign supreme through the movie.  It is not all that gory, no, but it was not toning anything down to get a wider audience.  The movie is exactly what it set out to be.  No more and no less.

Chopping Mall is an 80s horror movie that deserves to be seen.  Is it a great movie?  Not by any means. Is it a fun movie?  Hell yeah it is.  If you are into horror in any way whatsoever, check this movie out.  If you can.  It is definitely worth the watch.

Next up in the Marathon of Shops is the Kevin Smith sophomore effort, Mallrats.  All I need to say about this movie beforehand is that Jason Lee is in it, and I like watching Jason Lee, even if he’s doing an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.  He makes me laugh.  And that’s all I have to say about that.
How could I not include this picture?

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