Sightlines · reception

How Chopping Mall was received

1986 · Jim Wynorski · Chopping Mall on Sightlines

The arc

It flopped on first release under the title 'Killbots,' got retitled and re-marketed as 'Chopping Mall,' and then found its real audience on VHS — today it's a certified cult classic and a Vestron-era crown jewel of 80s video-store horror.

What’s debated

The eternal fan quip-turned-debate: there is no actual chopping in Chopping Mall — is the bait-and-switch title a cheat or the most perfect piece of 80s exploitation marketing ever?

Its footprint

The poster — a robot hand holding a shopping bag of body parts, with the tagline 'Where shopping can cost you an arm and a leg' — is more famous than the film itself, and the killbots' chirpy 'Thank you, have a nice day' after each kill is the line everyone quotes.

Where it stands

A beloved Letterboxd-era cult object: 76 lean minutes of Corman-factory mayhem that horror fans treat as essential 80s video-store canon, with one exploding-head scene that's practically a rite of passage.

Did you know? It was originally released as 'Killbots' and bombed — producer Julie Corman retitled it 'Chopping Mall' with a new ad campaign, and the re-release is what saved it. Bonus: Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov cameo as their 'Eating Raoul' characters, and Dick Miller turns up once again as a guy named Walter Paisley.