Off the beaten path of early 80s slasher films. The weirdest Halloween of our lives continues with two non-traditional halloween horror films. Three robots get together for good old fashion mall-cop brutality. Their victim? No, not the Bloc in Downtown Los Angeles, but instead a mall in the valley that looks suspiciously like the Beverly Center. Bloody Birthday as an experimental slasher film that was released before there were rules for this kind of thing. What happened with the 80s slasher films no one wanted to franchise? Why did some slasher films get franchises and others did not?
Trailers
Covers
Click on a cover to view/download high resolution version.
Chopping Mall
Released: March 21, 1986
Runtime: 77 min | IMDB | Wikipedia
Director: Jim Wynorski
Writer: Jim Wynorski, Steve Mitchell
Starring: Kelli Maroney, Tony O'Dell, Russell Todd
A group of teenagers that work at the mall all get together for a late night party in one of the stores. When the mall goes on lock down before they can get out, the robot security system activates after a malfunction and goes on a killing spree. One by one the three bots try to rid the mall of the “intruders.” The only weapons the kids can use are the supplies in other stores, or if they can make it till morning when the mall opens back up.
Bloody Birthday
Released: April 28, 1981
Runtime: 85 min | IMDB | Wikipedia
Director: Ed Hunt
Writer: Ed Hunt, Barry Pearson
Starring: Lori Lethin, Melinda Cordell, Julie Brown
In 1970, three children are born at the height of a total eclipse. Due to the sun and moon blocking Saturn, which controls emotions, they have become heartless killers ten years later, and are able to escape detection because of their youthful and innocent facades. A boy and his teenage sister become endangered when they stumble onto the bloody truth.
