6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Eight teenagers are trapped after hours in a high tech shopping mall and pursued by three murderous security robots out of control.
Starring: Kelli Maroney, Barbara Crampton, Paul Bartel (I), Mary Woronov, Dick MillerHorror | 100% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
Music: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Some of you who have been around long enough to have made it through various incarnations of home video formats may remember the Dark Ages of something called VHS tapes. It may be hard for younger collectors to realize what a sudden boon the home video market created for film lovers when these now clunky seeming cassettes showed up on the market. Up until the advent of VHS (and Betamax, of course), it was next to impossible to have a personal collection of favorite flicks unless one were fortunate enough to own 16mm prints and projectors. But suddenly with this “newfangled” technology, there was an exciting new supply of content available, something that started to grow exponentially once the VHS vs. Betamax “format war” was over and labels starting churning out tapes of their catalogs. Among the first big players in the VHS market was a rather unlikely one, Vestron Video, built out of the ashes of Time-Life Video (of all things), and then, once the nascent label got a secure toehold in the industry, with a slew of mostly second string features that were culled from the likes of the Cannon Films library. Vestron was a favorite of early collectors, and soon the company actually branched out into producing its own films (including such hits as Dirty Dancing), but it’s Vestron’s early video releases which still tend to spark a certain nostalgic fervor in collectors. Now, in a marketing turn that has perhaps appropriately been called a resurrection (considering the science fiction and/or horror aspect of many Vestron titles), Lionsgate is bringing back the imprint with a new line of offerings under the Vestron Video imprint.
Chopping Mall is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and its new Vestron Video imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Reactions to this transfer will probably be based at least on part with how much prior experience individual viewers have had with the film in previous home video incarnations. Presented at close to its original aspect ratio, and sourced from decent looking elements, the difference between this high definition presentation and the old DVD is rather striking. While the palette looks a bit faded at times and is perhaps just a trifle on the cool side, color suffusion is generally very good, and in a few key "blood and guts" sequences, extremely vivid. The film has a lot of optical effects, and those tend to up an already pretty chunky looking grain field, which can lead to occasional compression hurdles, especially in some of the darker sequences. Those darker sequences have occasional issues with shadow detail, but the ubiquitous use of close-ups helps to ameliorate any major problems. Detail levels are generally good to very good, again with an understanding that this film was not graced with a mega-budget, and was shot on the fly at night at a San Fernando Valley shopping mall.
Chopping Mall features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that delivers excellent clarity with regard to dialogue, Chuck Cirino's electronics heavy score, and the nicely done sound effects. There's perhaps a bit of an underwhelming quality in the mid to lower ranges, something that deprives some of the "kills" by the robots a little sonic force, but that's offset by other, more energetic, moments that feature more traditional effects like gunfire. Everything is understandably narrow, but prioritization is well handled and there are no problems of any kind to report.
There are going to be some who see the 3.5 score I've given Chopping Mall who will be asking, "Is he out of his mind giving such a high score to such obvious dross?", while other more rabid fans of the film will no doubt be asking, "Is he out of his mind giving such a low score to such an obvious classic?" (You'll note the common thread in these questions.) I make no bones that I find Chopping Mall a ton of fun even if I also have no illusions that the film is some kind of undiscovered masterpiece. This is the sort of popcorn munching fare that has a completely gonzo premise that delivers more or less exactly what it promises to. Technical merits are very good to excellent, and this new Vestron Video imprint is off to a gangbusters start in terms of supplementary material. Recommended.
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