A Park
Plaza Mall mall invents a new device to
prevent break in's and stealings from
criminals and juvenile delinquents which
are high tech robots that are unstoppable
and are state of the art security devices
as night watchmen.
Suddenly a bolt of lightning from a storm
outside short circuits the main computer
control and these robots turn into
killbots as they have killed the
technicians and some of the janitors
working there too.
A group of teens employed at the Mall
decide to party out there after hours
thinking they are having a good time but
they see two of their friends get killed
by these robots and try to escape but
they are accidentally locked in and
unarmed.
They break into a gun store thinking they
can stop them but it doesn't work and one
by one they are being hunted down and
slayed.
A very well done flick
although it looks like it might fail it
really picks up big time. Most of Jim
Wynorski's work in films were bloody
terrible with low production values
offering lots of skin but he seems to
pull his weight well and I found this
film his best work ever. At times it is off but alot of the times
he knew his stuff by doing with this one.
Shows a cheesy beginning in the film
with a burglar breaking into a mall and
then showing a nasty grin while trying to
shoot a killbot which looks cheesily
impressive.
However the discussion between the character's Paul and Mary acting
sarcastic at a conference meeting looked
too tongue in cheek and uninspired.
We see a nice opening with people acting
comedic at the mall showing harmless
accidents like drinks being spilled and
stuff like that almost giving it that
similar feeling to the opening of Fast
Times at Ridgemont High.
There's a good bullying sequence in the
mall with two employees between as a dweeb being slightly
picked on by Mike Brennan.
The characters hanging out and partying looks
very bland but however we seem to have a
nice disucssions between Allison Parks and Ferdy Meisel when
they both watch an old black and white
horror film on the TV together since
their conversations looked fairly
natural. Also a nice near romantic touch between the two of them getting into a deep discussion as this was a nice drawing card.
We spot a great shot on Walter Paisley as he is mopping up and a killbot is
right behind him about to come in for the
kill which looked perfectly done.
The lustful discussions between Leslie Todd and Mike Brennan was
perfect as they play off terrifically
well and are great making out together
looking like two real horny teenagers. After all this is a Wynorski film as he has to offer some of this.
The camera shots on the killbots rolling
around in the mall and killing people
looked wonderful and the people reacts well
while being chased by them. Plus nice low budget special effects on these killbots shooting lasers at other which kept me in suspense wondering if anyone will be hit by them as these moments looked perfectly deadly.
Terrific psychological feel when the teens try to hide and figure out the killbots locked up the mall all night till opening time starting in the morning which leaves a tension of panic wondering about survival through the whole night with those things roaming around which is a perfect touch for a horror flick.
We have a real powerful camera shot scene
with all 3 girls trying to escape in heating
vent as you wonder if they will survive as there's many close up shots on them nearly sweating and feeling uncomfortable as it sure looked struggling.
We spot a great shot of the camera
rolling in on Suzie Lynn when the
killbot is pinning her down as the situations here looked cringing and intense in which you get a sinking feeling that it's too late to save her. This scene looked strongly effective all the way through as well as a great deadly moment on her at the end offering a great horrifying touch.
There's a moment when Rick Stantion is electrocuted and nice shot
with electricity flowing through him. The special effects looked cool to watch as it offers many 80's low budget values within this.
We see a great shot on a killbot
cornering Allison and a nice
shot on her screaming with frightened
expressions. Plus a good moment when she tries to hide in a pet store and there are tarantulas crawling on her which is psychological wondering if she'll flip.
Terrific shots on the killbots crashing through glass in a certain store of a mall to try and track down their victim as well as nice explosive moments when she plans traps for these killbots which looked perfectly heroic when she outsmarts them and good shots on one of these robots breaking down.
Bottom line is that the film is full of your everyday teenage
employees hanging out in the back rooms
which is for employees only partying out
which shows a nice touch for a teenage
horror film and it look very exciting as
well as nice looks on these robots with
their laser shooting which looks very
80's oriented sci fi looking and nonstop
fun while these teenagers try to escape
from these objects which looked quite
struggling wondering who will survive
this madness.
The film was enjoyable and it really
takes you back to the cult classic retro
horror film land of the 80's although it
may seem at first it's a sci-fi flick it
does turn out as a horror film too.
A film worth watching if you like low
budget teen horror's. This film was
originally titled Killbots with a theatrical poster on it but the
box office did poorly due to it's title
so it was renamed into a better title to
attract horror fans.
Jim Wynorski had
made a ton of low budget horror films but
90 percent of them were direct-to-video
crap showing tons of bad performances and
lots of nudity covering a weak plot
except for this film in which I found
this to be his best work as a director
and co-writer and even non fans of his
will enjoy this cheesy 80's flick.
The acting is in
good shape but sometimes it's very 80's
cheese like. However, I like that in a
retro film.
Kelli Maroney (Alison Parks) is quite outstanding
in her role as the lead character and
seems to deliver alot of enthusiasm in
her part as she reminds me of Linda
Blair and briefly earned her scream
queen status to top it all off. She does well at trying to find a way of
destroying these killbots when she goes on
an adventure too. Offers a great courageous behavior rolling with the punches along with showing off a nice intelligent type of behavior.
Tony
O'Dell (Ferdy Meisel) played a perect dweeby and
preppy type of character in the film as
he seems to know his stuff by portraying
it and it's suitable for the story in
this one. Shows off alot of great energy and enthusasm throughout his performance. Does well acting a bit nervous when he spots his date too. Shows off a good decent attitude when the story is rolling. Also does well with his powerful attitude when trying to save others from the madness of the killbots.
Russell Todd (Rick Stanton) stood out the most in
this film as he portrayed a great tough
like employee who seems to be courageous
at battling the killbots. Perfomed very well at
getting tough when he loads his rifle and
goes in for the hunt on the killbots. There's a great reaction on him when he is electrocuted. During the beginning of the story offers a nice outgoing attitude and shows off a nice charm to his performance as well.
Barbara Crampton (Suzie Lynn) worked perfectly
with her whiney and scared attitude in
the film and portrays her part
believeable. She looked perfect by tripping out when the killbots are attacking her. She
reacts terrifically with her screaming. Brings all of this to a hype as well as showing great uptight emotions. Seems to act like somewhat a bimbo with how she came across but not a typical one.
Nick Segall (Greg Williams) really showed off his
energy with his aggression and anger in
his part which looked perfect. Offered a nice intensity as well as behaving convincingly emotional as well. Acted perfectly temperamental and upset after what has happened just acting obnoxious which seemed convincing. Offered an effective supporting role here.
John Terlesky (Mike Brennan) was the heartthrob
character in the film as a macho and sexy
type of teenage employee and does it well
with what he did even if he was
only seen partway through this film. He
does well at acting sarcastic towards an onscreen character when acting bullying like.
Suzee Slater (Leslie Todd) also represented
herself nicely as she had a perfect look
for a teenage horror film and her acting
is fairly okay too. Seemed to do fairly okay as one of those popular girl types as well as doing her job while trying to talk to her onscreen father on a situation he's not approved of and getting into a good mode while doing so making it come to life. Also does well with her loose behavior too while partying.
Barbara Craptom pulls down her lingerae and shows off her
breasts
Suzee Slater pulls off the covers of
a bed in the mall and shows off her full
round breasts
A guy's throat is slit
A woman's head is blown off by a killbot
The music was composed by Chuck Cirino who worked with Wynorski in many other projects too. He performed some nice cheesy 80's
keyboard music for the opening of this
film giving it a good low budget feel to
a teen horror flick and seemed to pull
through well with the story too although
some of it lacked a bit. There's great adventureous sounds on the music for many of the chasing scene's with the killbots. Plus some icy sounds too which was catchy. There's the odd cheesy piano music that blends in which we've heard from his other projects but at the same time it always sounded entertaining nevertheless.
[repeated
line after the robots kill someone]
Killbots: Thank you... have a nice
day.
Mike:
You always get your way don't you?
Leslie: When I'm happy,
everybody's happy.
Mike: That's for sure... hand me
my badge, would ya?
Leslie: What's the magic word?
Mike: Hand me my badge... please
[she hands him the badge]
Mike: Thank you.
Leslie: Oh, Mike...
Mike: What?
Leslie: [flashes him] Hurry
back.
Mike: Count on it.
Greg:
Computer, huh? Let's go trash the fucker.
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