CHOPPING MALL - Julie Corman - "Killbots" (1986)

So "GILA!" kind of got me interested in newer movies again, and especially ones that were the work of people like William Dever, Jim Wynorski, and Kelli Maroney, so I checked my Netflix and my Prime accounts, and the results were vaguely interesting! A Netflix search produced NO titles for any of those three people, and Amazon had considerably more to choose from, since compared to zero, 8 is a lot! So I chose to watch "Chopping Mall" which is another film directed by Jim Wynorski and starring Kelli Maroney! Honestly, I thought it was a slasher movie set in a mall, but it's actually about computerized security robot droids gone haywire, and it's not really a very good movie compared to "GILA!" but it did get me thinking about little droids and their place in cinematic history! 

As far as I can figure, GOG was the first one of these critters to start acting up in 1954!

In 1963, it was the Daleks that starting giving Dr. Who a headache!

In 1972, Bruce Dern had his little buddies Huey, Dewey, and Louie in "Silent Running!"

And then there was "Chopping Mall" in 1986 and all Hell broke loose again!

Then in 1987, came along a little film titled "Star Wars" that included Mr. R2-D2 in it's main cast, and the droid was entrenched in film history forever!

Although not a great movie, "Chopping Mall" does have some merit!

And it's over before it ever gets started!

 Then it starts all over as a comedy with a bevy of unbeatable Dungeon talent like Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov who among other things were both in "Death Race 2000" and "Eating Raoul!"

 The great Mel (ATTACK OF THE GIANT CRAB MONSTERS, The UNDEAD, ROCK ALL NIGHT) Welles as the cook with the cigarette dangling out of his mouth!

And our number one fave Dick (BUCKET OF BLOOD) Miller as the surly janitor!
Here's the deal! You put those four people in a movie even in small parts, I'm in, and nothing else matters! It's just that simple!

Then the droids go berserk and start killing off all the innocent teenagers and it ain't so funny no more!

 Armed with rifles and guns from the sporting goods store, the kids finally get one!

Then they get another one!!

 The four leading ladies are Kelli (GILA!) Maroney.....

 Karrie (EVILS OF THE NIGHT) Emerson....

 Barbara (RE-ANIMATOR) Crampton.......

.....And Suzee (I think she pissed off either the Director or the Producer) Slater!

An alternative and much more accurate title for "Chopping Mall" was "Killbots" as seen on this Dutch poster! The Producer of "Chopping Mall" is Roger Corman's wife Julie, who has got a list of titles under her belt that challenge her husband's productions in the 'B' movie department! Coming in 2017 from Julie and Roger together, "Death Race 2050!"

THE RUNNING MAN / Braveworld Productions, HBO - 1987

Here's a movie with a scary, uncanny prediction of the future, check it out!!.. In the year 2017, the great freedoms of the United States no longer exist, the nation has sealed off its borders and become a militarized police state (Focks News doctrine!), censoring film, art, literature and communications! With full control over the media (Bannon!!), the government attempts to quell the nation's yearning for freedom by broadcasting game shows on which convicted criminals fight for their lives. The most popular and sadistic of these programs is THE RUNNING MAN, hosted by Damon Killian. When a peaceful protest of starving citizens gather in Bakersfield, California, a police officer, Ben Richards, is ordered to fire on the crowd, which he refuses to do. The attack is carried out and Richards is framed for the murder of almost a hundred unarmed civilians!.. Wow, can't wait for that!!

It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Dawson, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown and others. I have to admit, I've never sat through the whole movie.

Richard Dawson plays Killian, host of The Running Man, he enjoys sending 'criminals' out to fight for their lives while him and the studio audience watch the ordeal on TV.

Anyway, Ben Richards is up next... Since he was framed for the murders, he now has to become... The Freakin' Running Man!!

I'LL BE BOCK!!..

Killian narrates the action for this this crowd of brainwashed friends.

Ben, now with Amber, do all they can to avoid the men chasing them. Watch out for all those damn hidden cameras!!

Here's a cool shot of a crowd watching as Buzzsaw makes his entrance!

Buzzsaw is big, burly, and, carries his trusted full throttle chainsaw and lets it doing his talking for him! Be careful, Ben!!

Killian is snarky as Hell, he has the 'law' on his side, so, he can legally come up with twisted shit and can get any evil order carried out... Sweeeeet.

Looks like Killian has Amber in a compromising position. You know, when you're rich and 'famous', you can just touch their stuff whenever you like!!

Jesse is one of my faves, here he is as Captain Freedom. He goes round and round with Ben and uses some big-time wrasslin' moves like the good old eye and nose gouge!!

Eventually, Killian get his just desserts, a big old Boston Creme Pie in the face!!!.. Check in again tomorrow when we'll have something special for you, here at... The Dungeon!!

GILA! - William Dever - "B Movie Nation" (2012)

 I like this poster because it introduces the members of the main cast, so now I don't have to do it!

 When I first started this blog, I never thought I'd be writing about a movie from 2012, because all I really wanted to do was put a renewed spotlight on a handful of teen horror movies from the 50's and 60's that featured at least one song being performed, or at least mimed! The movies I'm talking about in chronological order are BLOOD OF DRACULA (1957), ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (1958), HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER (1958), FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1958), GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW (1959), EEGAH (1962), THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH (1964), THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER (1965) etc, and of course, from 1959, THE GIANT GILA MONSTER!

 So, I didn't even know they made a remake of "The Giant Gila Monster" called "GILA" in 2012, and even if I did, I probably wouldn't have cared, but I stumbled upon it the other night on "Prime" and I'll just say that I was pleasantly surprised enough to want to make it this week's Wayback Wednesday offering!

Well, I'm just learning stuff right and left, so the reason "GILA!" is so well done is because the Producer is a gentleman named William Dever, who has a real love of  'B' movies, to the length that he has a website I never knew about until right now called "B Movie Nation," and I suggest you go there right away if you'd like to know from A to Z about 'B's!

Brian Gross has the lead role of  hot rodder Chase Winstead! Brian has also had the role of Captain Kirk in "Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II."

 For my money, the monster ain't all that bad, especially considering the meager budget this film was made for! It's a little awkward, but at least it's a lot more effective than the original!

Great marquee shot! I'm still waiting for "Ho Ho Horror" to come out!

Nice shot of this 78 cranking out "Rock-A-Beatin Boogie" by Bill Haley and the Comets! Reminds me I need to try and sell some of my 78 collection! They didn't use all the same music as in the first version, but added a lot of songs from the era to pump it up a little bit!

 

"GILA!" is worth watching just to see the beautiful olde cars like this classic 1960 T Bird!

After he eats the farmer's wife, the gila monster spits out the bloody pitchfork she was carrying like it was a chicken bone!

The always fun to watch Kelli Maroney as Deputy Wilma takes a bead on the giant critter!

Kelli has been in a remarkable array of movies over the last 30 years like "Slayground," "Night Of The Comet," "Chopping Mall," "Not Of This Earth," "Scream Queens Hot Tub Party," etc etc. etc.

In the original "Giant Gila Monster" there was a barn dance with a local radio station DJ, and Chase performs a couple of tunes, but in the remake, there's a band playing called MG and the Gas City Three performing "Red River Rock," and then Christina DeRosa performs "Fever" with the boys, and it almost becomes "Grease"-like, but never to the point of being cloying!

Give William Dever some credit for bringing the original Chase Winstead, Don Sullivan, in for a quick role as the guy who was the authority on reptiles! Don Sullivan might only have twelve acting credits to his name, but he should he a household name just because of a couple of them besides being in two giant gila monster movies. He was also the lead in Jerry Warren's "Teenage Zombies," literally one of the worst movies ever made, he was in the super classic "Monster Of Piedras Blancas," and he was in Gene Fowler's beatnik heist flick, "The Rebel Set," and he had a small part in "Curse Of The Undead," and he was in Hugo Haas's last film, "Paradise Alley!"

Now that's what I call recreating a scene!

To wrap it up, the whole cast sings "Laugh, Children, Laugh," a song written by Don Sullivan! What could be more fitting than that? I hope Don got a decent royalty check! I'd give you a sound clip but I don't want to get sued by somebody I respect so much!

More than just a movie, "GILA!" is more of a tribute to Don Sullivan and all the 50's 'B' movies! Maybe there is hope for the future after all thanks to guys like William Dever!