HORROR MOVIE REVIEW: CHOPPING MALL




It’s day twenty of my HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE where I have to see a horror movie a day during the month of October and write a short review for each one.

I am told I am not watching enough 80's horror films, so tonight I am reviewing CHOPPING MALL, a horror film from the 80's I had missed as a teenager and have discovered it's existence just recently, stumbling on a poster. God, I wish they made similar posters these days!  A perfect marketing tool!

The plot is simple, but effective. A lightening strike causes the safety guard robots to go mad at a large shopping mall, just when a group of young people decides to have a sneaky party after hours. The exits are locked, and the victims are stuck with the homicidal machines overnight.

The film has a dumb dialogue, lots of topless girls, is filled with neon laser beams and has plenty of explosive gore - everything 80's is famous for. There is barely a boring moment, as the kids don't take long to fight back, and the murders come in rapid fashion. The body count is staggering!

The electronic soundtrack is a marvel, and the whole experience will make you go back in time, if you grew up with these films like I did. The final showdown between the pretty blonde and one of the devil's machines is cathartic, culminating in a punchline right before the evil creature is sent to electronic hell, or wherever the bad robots go.

My thirteen year old self would have enjoyed CHOPPING MALL much more, but I must admit at almost forty I still had a blast.

SCORE OUT OF 5:

SCARY SCORE: 👻
GORE SCORE: 🗡🗡🗡🗡
FUN SCORE: 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

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