Ten Days of Terror!: Chopping Mall

Film: Chopping Mall
Format: Streaming video from Tubi TV on the new internet machine.

Friend of the blog Nolahn is a huge fan of a movie called Deathstalker II. He’s a big enough fan of that movie that he made me watch it. I bring this up in a review of Chopping Mall because both were directed by Jim Wynorski. In fact, these were consecutively directed by Jim Wynorski, and were his second and third movies, with Chopping Mall coming first. You can tell a great deal about a director by looking at that director’s oeuvre. Among the films Wynorski has directed include such magnum opera as Scream Queen Hot Tub Party, Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade, and The Witches of Breastwick. Diving into his IMDb page is a strange journey.

It’s actually a little sad to see a guy who had some skill slide into direct-to-video softcore porn movies like The Devil Wears Nada. I’m not going to pretend that Chopping Mall is Shakespeare, but there are elements of this movie that demonstrate talent and even some wit. This isn’t a great movie, but it’s a fun one, and one that is difficult to dislike, especially for anyone who came of age in the ‘80s. In that respect, this might be one of those movies that perfectly encapsulates its era.

Your Face Picks Movies (Nolahn): Deathstalker II

Film: Deathstalker II
Format: DVD from personal collection (no, really) on laptop.

This is the fifth in a series of twelve films suggested by the guys at YourFace. This is Nolahn’s second pick.

I knew a few things about Deathstalker II going into it. First, I knew that this movie was particularly special to Nolahn. When I first envisioned this monthly project, I was warned that he’d assign this movie to me. As it happens, this was on the top of his list. I also knew this was going to be a really, really bad movie. The guys at Your Face revel in the cinematic sewer, as it were. What I didn’t know was how to find this movie. Ultimately, I bought the damn thing in a Roger Corman four-pack. So now I own Deathstalker II for good or ill.

Roger Corman is a unique case when it comes to movies. For the most part, his movies are shit, and low-budget shit, but he’s made a few good ones here and there. He’s also responsible for starting the careers of directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and Ron Howard. So there was at least a little bit of hope going into this that maybe, just maybe there was something here.