The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Chopping Mall
Horror · Science Fiction · 1986
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!
Movie details
Chopping Mall
“Where shopping costs you an arm and a leg!”
1986 Horror · Science Fiction 1h 17m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.8 / 10
Community rating
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!
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Chopping Mall?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Night of the Living Dead
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Patrick
Horror · 1978
A comatose hospital patient harasses and kills through his powers of telekinesis to claim his private nurse as his own.
P2
Horror · 2007
A businesswoman finds herself locked with a unhinged security guard in a parking garage after getting stuck working late on Christmas Eve.
Hellraiser
Horror · 2022
A young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension.
Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Jim Wynorski
Written by
Jim Wynorski · Steve Mitchell
Kelli Maroney
Alison Parks
Tony O'Dell
Ferdy Meisel
Russell Todd
Rick Stanton
Karrie Emerson
Linda Stanton
Barbara Crampton
Suzie Lynn
N
Nick Segal
Greg Williams
John Terlesky
Mike Brennan
Court is in session
Put Chopping Mall on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.