Here’s something that probably won’t go down too well with a lot of people. Director Robert Hall (Fear Clinic, Laid to Rest) talked recently to Nightmare Toys, revealing a few details about his upcoming project, a remake of Jim Wynorski’s robots-on-the-rampage horror Chopping Mall. And as if remaking the 1986, Barbara Crampton-starring cult favourite was not sufficiently sacrilegious, Hall dropped the bomb that his version will not feature robots (dubbed ‘Killbots’ in the original) at all!
“My version of CHOPPING MALL that I wrote is totally supernatural,” Hall explained. “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.”
It sure sounds like a massively different take on the original film, which sees a bunch of teens sneak into a shopping mall at night for some partyin’, only to be set upon by the malfunctioning security robots. With the Killbots in attack mode, the young uns must use anything they can find in the mall to fight back.
Hall seems all too aware of how fans may react to his approach though, saying:
“Sorry guys… purists, I have a different take. Which [Roger Corman] really, really liked. Do need to get that underway.”
Hall added that while budgetary restraints have prevented him moving forward with the project up to now, he hopes to get the ball rolling sometime this year.
Words: Kevan Farrow (@KevanX)
