'Chopping Mall' Remake Won't Feature Killer Robots, Does The World Even Make Sense Anymore?

A Chopping Mall remake is in the works, and it won't feature killer robots. I ask you: what kind of world are we raising our children in when a Chopping Mall remake is void of killer robots? In a new interview, director Robert Hall provides an update on his robotless Chopping Mall remake.

The 1986 horror film Chopping Mall may not be a classic by traditional standards, but it was certainly entertaining. In Chopping Mall, a group of teens are trapped in a high-tech mall that has robots for security guards. As bad luck would have it, the robot guards go haywire and start bumping off the teens. The film had a lot of room for improvement, so a Chopping Mall remake is a pretty good idea.

Enter Robert Hall. Hall, who directed the slasher film Laid To Rest, is writing and directing a Chopping Mall remake. In an interview with Nightmare Toys (via Bloody Disgusting), Hall provided an update on his remake, and confirmed his script differs from the original. For one thing, Hall has removed the killer robot element.

Folks, this is a big deal. For crying out loud, the original Chopping Mall's alternate title was Killbots. You're going to remake Killbots without the killbots? Crazy! Hall's new idea for his Chopping Mall certainly is interesting:

"My version of CHOPPING MALL that I wrote is totally supernatural...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."

That's certainly...different. Remaking Chopping Mall with a supernatural angle is an interesting idea, but I'm sure the "ghosts of dead slaves" storyline is going to raise an eyebrow or two, and rightfully so. It's a controversial idea. That said, the killer mannequin angle sounds a lot like the 1979 weirdo horror film Tourist Trap, which makes me wonder why Hall didn't just remake that instead. Hall goes on to say that legendary B-movie director and original Chopping Mall producer Roger Corman "really liked" his Chopping Mall remake idea, so that's a plus.

This isn't the first mention of the remake's supernatural twist. When the remake was first announced back in 2011, Hall's producing partner Kevin Bocarde said: "It will retain the basic concept of young people trapped in a mall; however, the story will have a darker, supernatural spin."

There's no release date set yet for the robot-free Chopping Hall remake.