“Chopping Mall” feels like it could have been directed by John Carpenter (“They Live”, “The Fog”). It’s a super cheesy 80s movie with killer robots. There’s little to no plot; it’s just a big excuse for robots firing lasers and some big explosions. It also reminded me a lot of “Maximum Overdrive”.

In this movie, shopping centre gets a security upgrade with three high-tech robots designed to detain anybody try to rob the place at night. During a night of partying, a group of workers get trapped inside with the robots. Unfortunately for them, a lightning strike has made the robots malfunction and now they will kill anybody that they see.

The characters in “Chopping Mall” are not exactly riveting and most of them are just there to be blasted by lasers. Some of the workers are at least smart enough to arm themselves with guns in order to face the robot security guards. The killer robots themselves are great. It’s so satisfying watching them shoot lasers at people. They are like ED-209 crossed with Johnny Five. We are first introduced to the robots with a short video presentation and some eggheads that assure everybody that nothing can wrong (it feels like it could have been a deleted scene from “RoboCop”). Dick Miller (“Gremlins”, “The Terminator”) has a very small role as a cleaner.

“Chopping Mall” is not high-art but it does belong in the same category as movies such as “They Live”, “Maximum Overdrive” and “Army of Darkness”. It’s a pretty short movie but it does not really get going until the second act when the robots start killing everybody. One scene involves some of the characters sat watching “Attack of the Crab Monsters”, which again reminded me of when Carpenter that showed “The Thing From Another World” on television in “Halloween”. If you want some killer robot carnage then “Chopping Mall” should satisfy your thirst.