Title: Chopping Mall (1986)
Alternate Title: Killbots (working title)
Genre: Horror / Science-Fiction / Slasher
Plot Synopsis
A group of young employees at the Park Plaza Mall decide to hold a party inside one of the furniture stores after hours. Late at night, the mall’s brand-new high-tech security system — three robotic “Protectors” — malfunctions after a lightning storm and begins to kill everyone inside. As exits shut down and the dead pile up, the surviving teens must fight the murderous machines and escape the locked-down mall before dawn.
Cast and Crew
-
Director: Jim Wynorski
-
Writers: Jim Wynorski, Steve Mitchell
-
Cast:
-
Kelli Maroney as Alison Parks
-
Tony O’Dell as Ferdy Meisel
-
John Terlesky as Mike Brennan
-
Russell Todd as Rick Stanton
-
Barbara Crampton as Suzie Lynn
-
YouTube Trailer: Chopping Mall | Trailer
IMDb: Chopping Mall (1986)
Reviews from Letterboxd:
-
S_Raney — ★★★★
“It’s like watching someone dissect their own childhood with a pair of scissors and then reassemble it as surreal theatre.” -
Gray — ★★★★½
“Terayama folds time into a nervous hallucination. Childhood as a stage play, a confession, and a trap.” -
Lloyd — ★★★★★
“Every frame feels like a painting ripped from a fever dream. One of Terayama’s most staggering achievements.” -
SailorJupiter — ★★★★
“A kaleidoscope of memory and myth… hypnotic, unsettling, and deeply personal.” -
Julián Gutiérrez — ★★★★★
“A masterpiece of Japanese experimental cinema. Wild, intimate, and utterly unique.”
Meta Description: A cult 1980s horror-slasher where mall-party teens face malfunctioning kill-robots in the locked-down Park Plaza Mall — a wild blend of sci-fi terror and low-budget mayhem.
