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Chopping Mall, 1986
At a mall, a new fleet of robotic security enforcers has been acquired to patrol the mall at night, incapacitating any troublemakers. "Nothing can go wrong!" the salesman assures them. Hm. Naturally a crew of early 20-somethings decides to spend the night in the mall, where they soon run afoul of the persistent and very much malfunctioning robots.
LOL, who decided to give these things lasers?
So I was really hoping that this film would deliver on the cheese front, and in that regard the film was a very mixed bag. Do we get the image of a killer robot patiently riding up an escalator? Yes. And that alone earns the film a full popcorn.
But the middle of the movie just absolutely dragged for me. The victims quickly manage to procure very large guns, and there was just too much running around and firing at the robots. Yes, a cold, inhuman robot/AI can make for an imposing antagonist. There is something frightening about running up against a logic that is both absolute and flawed. But aside from the robots delivering a cheery automated farewell after dispatching their victims, there just wasn't enough menace or personality to them.
The characters are largely forgettable. Alison (Kelli Maroney) and Ferdy (Tony O'Dell) are our main leads, something we can tell by the fact that while the others have sex on display beds, they hunker down and watch Attack of the Crab Monsters. (Okay, the film is very meh, but these kids have good taste in movies!). I mean, for heaven's sake, Barbara Crampton is in this thing and I barely registered her.
The kills are okay, with a handful of momentary enjoyable moments, but overall nothing super special.
Chopping Mall, 1986
At a mall, a new fleet of robotic security enforcers has been acquired to patrol the mall at night, incapacitating any troublemakers. "Nothing can go wrong!" the salesman assures them. Hm. Naturally a crew of early 20-somethings decides to spend the night in the mall, where they soon run afoul of the persistent and very much malfunctioning robots.
LOL, who decided to give these things lasers?
So I was really hoping that this film would deliver on the cheese front, and in that regard the film was a very mixed bag. Do we get the image of a killer robot patiently riding up an escalator? Yes. And that alone earns the film a full popcorn.
But the middle of the movie just absolutely dragged for me. The victims quickly manage to procure very large guns, and there was just too much running around and firing at the robots. Yes, a cold, inhuman robot/AI can make for an imposing antagonist. There is something frightening about running up against a logic that is both absolute and flawed. But aside from the robots delivering a cheery automated farewell after dispatching their victims, there just wasn't enough menace or personality to them.
The characters are largely forgettable. Alison (Kelli Maroney) and Ferdy (Tony O'Dell) are our main leads, something we can tell by the fact that while the others have sex on display beds, they hunker down and watch Attack of the Crab Monsters. (Okay, the film is very meh, but these kids have good taste in movies!). I mean, for heaven's sake, Barbara Crampton is in this thing and I barely registered her.
The kills are okay, with a handful of momentary enjoyable moments, but overall nothing super special.