Killbots from God: The economics, religion and morality of "Chopping Mall"

On the surface, the horror movie Chopping Mall is little more than a mindless horror movie aimed at horny teenagers thirsty for a little blood. But, of course, such analysis is incomplete and misses the point. It is negligent to think of art without considering its moral positions and social implications, and Chopping Mall is just as rich a canvas as any other great film. In addition, its moral scope is quite easy to find and important to understanding the film as a whole.

The movie begins with the proprietors of a cookie-cutter suburban mall being treated to a seminar on new state-of-the-art security robots. It is promised that these robots--or "Killbots" as the opening credits call them--can handle any conceivable threat. The mall buys the robots, excited about the prospect of handling all their security concerns with automated devices.

It does not take us long to realize that this is a mistake--indeed, the intelligent viewer can come to this conclusion from the film's title and genre alone. But it's not just a simple matter of leaving the security of your mall up to robots. Conspicuous in their absence are the human beings who will be replaced by these Killbots. Both anti-technological (humans, imperfect as they may be, will still be rational; there is no such guarantee with Killbots) and anti-elitist (the lower class security guards, thought to be easily replaceable, are surely a welcome alternative to the homicidal Killbots), this scene foregrounds the filmmakers' concerns with cost-benefit analysis and who is left out and disadvantaged when such decisions are made.

When the cold open finishes and the credits roll, we are treated to a musical montage of the many hazards and headaches that go along with shopping in a suburban mall. A kid on a skateboard almost knocks some people over; a woman struggles to take her food from the counter to her table (eventually bypassing dozens of obstacles but tripping right as she reaches her own table). Most importantly to the moral structure of the film, a man on an escalator sees a number of women in bikinis descending on the other side. The models return his glances and the man is distracted, eventually tripping and crushing the boxes he was carrying. Amazingly, he doesn't even seem to mind and keeps on ogling the women. The themes we can derive from just these few seconds will resonate throughout the rest of the film. Even when we are directly confronted with the dangers of unmasked sexuality (the film was released in 1986, five years after the discovery of AIDS), we don't seem to care. How can we, as a species, break free from this cycle?

In the next few scenes, we meet a series of characters who are planning to meet for some kind of party that night inside the mall. It is a Friday and the thoughts of the young workers--especially the fellows who work at the furniture store whose owner has left early--are not on work but on sex. As a result, a diligent young man who is reluctant to join in or even authorize the festivities (the boss has left him in charge) who would rather do his work and go home is cajoled into taking part as well. This decision will be regretted later.

Meanwhile, a storm rages outside. Lightning hits an electrical generator outside and we follow the chain of mechanical malfunction to a control panel where a solitary man in a white coat (notice that he is a scientist or technician, not a security guard--the implications of the blue shirted or "blue collar" security guard being replaced by the white shirted or "white collar" technician are also impossible to miss) watches some security feeds. His back is to the Killbots, who wait until the mall is closed until they can begin their patrols. Hearing something, he faces the Killbots suspiciously. Satisfied that it was only his imagination, he finds some pornography. There is a close up of the pornography, and suddenly, one of the Killbots' claws bursts through the picture to grab the man by the throat and kill him. This horny technician is the first of the film's many choppings.

Almost all of the film's major themes are right here in this first chopping. We have come too far in our quest for technology. This man, presumably one of the people who worked the hardest to get us to this position, is the first victim. The pornography also underscores the dangers of lust. The Killbots are not activated by some security glitch or computer virus. A bolt of lightning hits some equipment and suddenly they are recharged and reborn as Christian avengers, out to get those who have committed adultery with their eyes which, as Jesus tells us on the Sermon on the Mount, is akin to committing adultery in one's heart. The viewer knows that lightning has no effect on computer equipment other than to power it off or fry it. Clearly, the bolt of lightning came from God Himself.

A few minutes later, the technician's colleague arrives to relieve him. Unable to find him (apparently the Killbots have disposed of the body), he assumes that his coworker has simply left early. Taking his own seat at the control panel, he begins reading a trashy science fiction book. The Killbots spring to life again. The technician checks behind him until he is satisfied that they are not really moving and returns to his book. This happens several more times until he is finally chopped like his dead colleague. The religious imagery that has been introduced with the mystical lightning bolt helps us see what the filmmakers are trying to express with this scene. The Killbots, who we have seen are on some kind of mission from God, represent His will. The technician isn't really doing anything inherently sinful, like his predecessor. He simply has his back to the Killbots, or God. As a result, he must be killed and is unable to see it coming. This is more than just God avenging the sinners; it is an allegory for the Judgment when anyone who is not on God's side is to be damned.

Meanwhile, in the mall's furniture store, there is a party in full swing. Drinking and dancing makes way for premarital sex. The filmmakers focus on one couple in particular. Lying in bed, the woman asks her lover to go get her some cigarettes from a machine out in the mall. As he reluctantly gets out of bed and puts on his clothes, the woman flashes him and entreats him to "Hurry back." Newly inspired, he does as he is told and while he struggles with the simple cigarette machine, a Killbot approaches. Despite its overwhelmingly grating noise, the man is surprised and says "You guys sure are quiet." The religious implications even permeate this simple exchange: God's message, so the filmmakers would have us believe, is right in front of us and yet, through unwillingness to hear or just plain idiocy, we miss it every time.

The Killbot asks for identification, so the character presents his card. He makes some wisecracks at the robot's expense. The Killbot, meanwhile, does not seem to find his (legitimate) identification to be sufficient. Like the technicians before him, this young man is chopped. Motivated purely by extramarital lust rather than love--romantic or simply the brotherly love of another human being--he is another clear victim for the moralizing Killbots. Of all the couples in the mall, this one was clearly the furthest along in their purely sexual relationship which makes the young man a prime target for another chopping.

Craving her cigarette which has still not come, the woman leaves the furniture store to investigate. She finds the cigarette machine and calls her lover's name. She finds him lying down and starts shaking him, telling him to "Wake up!" before noticing that he has been chopped. Just as she is screaming, a Killbot bursts out of a nearby room where it has been waiting in ambush. She is chased screaming down the corridors of the mall while the Killbot shoots lasers at her. She reaches the furniture store, exhausted, and sees that it is no use running away from the Killbot. She turns around and screams as the Killbot charges its laser and literally blows her head apart (fucking sweet, by the way). The most lustful of the young couples has been destroyed first by the Killbots. It is only after these two have been killed that the Killbots turn their attention elsewhere, to the other teenagers in the mall, whose adventures make for the rest of the movie.

One might make the argument that a tasteless horror movie is a terrible venue for a message as clearly moralistic and even religious as the one we find in Chopping Mall. But this is missing the point. Preaching to the choir would accomplish nothing. Here, teenagers looking for a gross slasher flick and maybe some nudity on top are instead shown the horrifying consequences of living with lust. The ambiguity of the Killbots--they are thoughtless murderers and also righteous crusaders for Good--coupled with the harmlessness of the characters who are chopped--they aren't really doing anything much worse than we would do--makes for a frightening picture of our own immorality and a Christian doctrinal vision of what will happen to us as a result.