As far as I’m concerned, director Jim Wynorski’s 1986 film Chopping Mall (watch it HERE) ranks up there as one of the most entertaining horror movies of the ’80s, which is the decade that brought a lot of my favorite horror movies into the world. It’s also a movie that doesn’t seem to get referenced often enough, and doesn’t get as much respect as it deserves – even if James Wan wants to remake it and Shout Factory TV aired it for 24 hours straight on Black Friday. So I’m glad to see that Chopping Mall is getting some love from the folks at Encyclopocalypse Publications, who have announced that they’re teaming up with Shout Factory and author Brian G. Berry for a Chopping Mall novelization!
Written by Wynorski and Steve Mitchell, Chopping Mall has the following synopsis: Some people will kill for a bargain… and at the Park Plaza Mall they do! Here, you can shop until you drop… dead! High tech robots equipped with state-of-the-art security devices have been recruited as the new mechanical “night watchmen” for the Park Plaza Mall. When a jolting bolt of lightning short circuits the main computer control, the robots turn into “killbots”… on the loose after unsuspecting shoppers! Four couples are trying to make it after-hours in a mattress store. They make it all right… in the morgue! At Park Plaza Mall, you can save on everything but your life!
The film stars Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet), Tony O’Dell (Head of the Class), Russell Todd (Friday the 13th Part 2), Karrie Emerson (Evils of the Night), Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator), Nick Segal (Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo), John Terlesky (Deathstalker II), Suzee Slater (Mind Twister), Dick Miller (Gremlins), Gerrit Graham (Phantom of the Paradise), and Eating Raoul‘s Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov.
Encyclopocalypse Publications lets us know that the novelization “promises to deliver all the laughs and thrills that have made Chopping Mall a beloved fixture in horror cinema, reimagined as a collectible paperback book.” Trade paperback, mass market paperback, and ebook copies are available for pre-order on their website.
Encyclopocalypse Publications has been responsible for a lot of novelizations in recent years, and Brian G. Berry has written several for them, including Amityville Death Toilet, Commando Ninja, House Shark, House Squatch, Motorboat, She Kills, and The Barn.
Will you be reading the Chopping Mall novelization? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
I’ve been waiting more than thirty years to see the Killbots return to the screen, and reading this novelization will be a nice way to spend some time while I continue to wait.