Directed by: Jim Wynorski ("Return of the Swamp Thing" 1989, "Cleavagefield" 2009 - what? "Cleavagefield"? Oh dear, oh dear *adds to list*)
Starring: The least fearsome robots in the world, 80s Haircut People
Plot: A shopping mall in Telford uses classical music to deter unruly kids from causing trouble, with "hilarious" consequences.
Or not.
The worst thing about this film is that there is absolutely no fucking chopping whatsoever. Seriously, the title is a total con. In order, there's a stab, a pinch, an electrocution, a cut throat, a head explosion, a burning to death, a throw from a balcony, a laser to the stomach and another electrocution. But, no fucking chopping. Honestly, they should have stuck with the original title of "Killbots". At least that had a shred of truth in the title. I was expecting limbs everywhere, people chopped in half etc. At least "Shark in Venice" had a shark in Venice. At least in "Wrong Turn 2" they took a wrong turn. At least "Pocket Ninjas" was made by a bunch of wankers. At least in "Boa vs Python" there was a boa vs a python....eventually.
But in this, there is no fucking chopping. A mere sliced thoat is the closest you come to a chop. It would be like having a Steven Seagal film where he shoots everyone, or having Clint Eastwood tickle everyone to death with a feather in the Dirty Harry films. It just doesn't cut.
Does it have anything to redeem it? Erm....it has tits, if that's what you're wondering. Otherwise, no. Like I said, it's got the least threatening robots in film history. The look like short squat versions of the original "Battlestar Galactica" Cylons, crossed with Johnny Five from "Short Circuit", with the threat and menace of Tweaky from "Buck Rogers". Seriously, they're shit robots. Under normal circumstances they look likely to provide a shitter protection service than the Protectron's in "Fallout 3".
Alarmingly, this film came out one year before "Robocop". So I can't help but think that Paul Verhoeven and co. owe a little bit to this film for coming up with the idea of robots that protect and serve.....and then go batshit mental and kill people. Not that the Protector 101 robots in this are anything like Ed-209....though for a simple shopping mall defence system, they're kitted out out like some really high-grade military shit. Something tells me that the US Army probably received some really tame robots with nothing more than tranquiliser darts and a taser.
Of course, something has to send these placid robots mad that would normally leave all staff alone.....and of course it's man's best friend.....Lightning. Yes, in an electrical storm just before closing time some lightning strikes and overloads the system. Of course, lightning has a propensity to turn programmed machines into relentless killing machines.
And this is no exception. That said, your average machine isn't tooled up with laser eye cutters, lasers, tasers and C4 (wtf?) but these lowgrade protector bots just happen to be tooled up to the thin red strip of an eyeball with these tools.
And off they go to kill some oversexed kids who decided that having a party in a furniture store after hours in a shopping mall is a good fucking idea. A party of 8. Woah. Rock and fucking roll. By the end of the party, the three couples are all shagging and the remaining two - the shy nerds basically - are busy watching B-Movies on a TV in the same fucking room as the sexkids. I mean, jesus. Would that really happen?
Anyway, these are the two that survive. You know that because they adhere to age old slasher/horror film cliche that you're safe if you don't have sex, keep your clothes on.....in fact, they're positively virginal at the start but you just know that when they're all happy at the end of the film despite their friends just being slaughtered that they're going to have a massive fuck, get all guilty about the circumstances and never speak to each other again.
Apart from the six sex fiends, three innocents get killed. Well, two really, as one was killed whilst looking at porn. They missed a trick here as he only got stabbed in the neck - would have been so much better if he'd been blinded....
So, how do they kill the bots? Well, they get some weapons from a sports shop - which at this point would have made it really fucking interesting had it been set here in the UK - a bunch of kids get slaughtered fighting three killer robots with badminton rackets, shuttle cocks, golf clubs and cricket bats whilst wearing replica football kits.....*lightbulb*
Basically, one bot gets killed in a lift explosion - and it is at this point that I recognise the shopping mall - it's the same one that was used in "Commando". On closer inspection (ie. wikipedia) it turns out that it was also used in "Terminator 2" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". So, basically the shopping mall is more famous than anyone in this film.....and infinitely cooler.
The second bot gets electrocuted due to that age old trick of using a mirror to reflect a laser. Brilliant, it basically then goes haywire, kills two of the kids and then blows up. The final bot gets lured into a paint shop by the nerdy girl who has tactically emptied loads of paint onto the floor so that the bot loses traction and can't get out. She then lobs a flare that she hid down her top ages ago at a point that I was starting to get restless.....this then makes everything blow up.
Fantastic.
Or not.
"Shocking Mall" would have been more apt. Chopping....yes, I'm still angry about being hoodwinked. The bastards.
Chopping action: 0/10
Shopping action: 4/10
Hair: 1/10
Overall: 3/10 - Pretty rubbish really. Should have called it "Killbots". Calling it "Chopping Mall" for the purpose of a cheap play on words and not having any goddamn chopping makes me angry. Very angry. Like watching "Contact" for the alien.