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Oh Kill Bots, how I love thee. Wait a minute… I mean Chopping Mall.
If you walked into a video store in the 80s, you would see both titles in the horror section. You would get a slightly different movie depending on which one you picked up. Kill Bots disappeared rather quickly off shelves as Chopping Mall was the 17-minute shorter re-cut and re-release—Kill Bots performed poorly due to its title, Chopping Mall moved quicker and had a catchier name.
It’s the classic story of a bunch of mall employees staying in the mall after closing to have lots of gratuitous sex in the different department stores. Little do they know the new mall security is three brand new state-of-the-art robots that short circuit and go into kill mode. Hence, the alternate name is “Kill Bots.”
The cast consists of some absolute horror icons in Kelli Maroney ( Night of The Comet, Fast Times At Ridgemont High), Barbara Crampton ( Re-Animator, From Beyond), Gerrit Graham (Used Cars, CHUD 2, Terror Vision), and one of the absolute best character actors of his time in Dick Miller. Miller would play minor but memorable characters in The Burbs, Terminator, Gremlins, and in the original Little Shop of Horrors from 1960. Here he just plays a bit part as a mall janitor. He meets a particularly electrifying demise.
This film features one of the greatest and most talked about special effects of all time. It is probably one of the main reasons this movie is still remembered beyond cult status. The famous head explosion. What an absolutely fantastic effect it is too.
Our characters try to survive the night from the bloodthirsty robots as they ransack a hardware store in the mall. Kelli Maroney plays our innocent final girl who learns to kick ass rather quickly. You must love the 80s—when malls still had hardware and gun stores. Without them, these movies wouldn’t work. Where else would our mall rats get guns and explosive products to make bombs?
Director Jim Wynorski would never make anything even close to this quality ever again. He would spend his career making fun films, but not good ones. Deathstalker 2, Sorority House Massacre 2, and most likely his most famous being Return of Swamp Thing. But not for good reasons. More infamous, really.
This film probably works best because it has a cast that knows how B-movie horror needs to work. Also, as I said before, it features some fantistic special effects for its budget. This is too fun for its own good while still scratching that horror movie itch.
As of this review, a remake was supposed to be made that was announced in 2011. Nothing has come of it as of 2023. To be honest, it doesn’t need one. Thank you for reading. “Have A Nice Day.”
