Movies
There Will Not Be Killer Robots in the Planned ‘Chopping Mall’ Remake
Killer robots are just too silly these days, says the director.
The villains of Jim Wynorski’s 1986 cult classic Chopping Mall are of course high-tech security robots that go on a killing spree inside of a shopping mall, dubbed “Killbots.” In fact, Killbots was the original title of the film. But there’s a Chopping Mall remake in the works, and the director says the script does *not* feature killbots.
Chatting with Nightmare Toys last week, Robert Hall (Laid to Rest) provided an update on his Chopping Mall remake, detailing the massive deviation from the original.
“My version of CHOPPING MALL that I wrote is totally supernatural,” Hall told the show. “It’s more The Fog set in an abandoned mall than it is robots. Instead of killer robots, they are these mannequins that are possessed by the souls of dead slaves that worked at the plantation that the mall was built over.”
“Sorry guys… purists,” he added. “I have a different take. Which [Roger Corman] really, really liked. Do need to get that underway.”
Hall also noted that he’s not 100% sure if he’s still got the remake rights to Chopping Mall, but that he’s really hoping to soon get his planned remake off the ground. In the recent past, budgetary issues have prevented the cameras from rolling, he says.
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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