Chopping Mall (1986)- Review and Analysis by Scott Wood for Critical-film.com

Chopping Mall A film review by Scott Wood For Critical-film.com   I don't want to step on anybody's toes. A film like “Chopping Mall” is definitely Mr. Pitt's territory (in fact, he probably already has a review for it somewhere in his archives) but sometimes I look at his body of work, and I get a little jealous. He writes about so many fun titles like “Frankenfish” and “Abominable,” while I sit at home and watch hour upon excruciating hour of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and attempt to come up with something valid to comment on. Enough for one night; I'm reviewing “Chopping Mall” damn it.   The director, James Wynorski (or H.R. Blueberry, or Arch Stanton, or Jay Andrews, or whatever name he decides to use at any given time) is actually a legend of sorts among low-budget B horror and exploitation flicks. He has a very wide body of work of about 70 films or more, and is still going strong today. When he wrote and directed “Chopping Mall” in 1985 under the guidance of Roger Corman, he had but only one other film to his credit (“The Lost Empire” 1985). He has since forged his strong career exclusively on trash cinema; a genre that will never die even though the feel of such movies has changed dramatically since he started. It is difficult to gauge how strong a director he may be in genre such as this, where the end result is always a campy mess. He's been successful and that's all that really matters.   It is well documented how much I miss the 80's, and films such as this one are among the reasons why. Very few titles released these days are even remotely similar in tone to the slew of cheesy horror schlockers that so prominently littered our VHS rental shelves only twenty short years ago. The lousy puns are all but gone. The effects are bad CGI now, instead of bad puppetry or stop-motion. I even miss the surfer slang.   And even though I enjoyed “Chopping Mall,” I would never be able to recommend it with a clear conscience. It has nothing that makes it stand apart from the other films of its generation. It's a standard, silly robots-killing-teenagers 80's horror flick.   But that's what I like about it! Oh, I'm so conflicted.   And this is where I think Jason and I are fundamentally different on our approaches to critiquing film. Where Mr. Pitt may be able to celebrate something like this, and accurately pick out it's (albeit subtle) strengths, I just don't have the ability to do that. He is far more passionate about such cinema than I. I enjoy the existence of such a picture, and I have a good time watching it, but I need something to stand out in order to recommend it. “Chopping Mall” gets lost in the slew of other familiar films, and for that reason I can neither recommend you make an effort to see it, nor any effort to avoid it. “Chopping Mall” is heart-warmingly average.   (Two and a Half Stars)   This review was provided in HTML format, as your browser is not capable of displaying flash content. To experience Critical-Film.com the way it was meant to be seen, please download the flash player from <a href="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&promoid=BIOW">Macromedia</a>.