Chopping Mall: The Novelization

Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures released Chopping Mall in 1986. The origin of the film's production stemmed from Corman's wife Julie negotiating a distribution deal with Vestron to create a horror film with a shopping mall locale. B-movie screenwriter, director, and producer Jim Wynorski joined the project to write the script (with Steve Mitchell) and direct. This was a partnership with the Cormans that would fuel future cult hits like Big Bad Mama II, Deathstalker 2, and Sorority House Massacre II and III (aka Hard to Die or Tower of Terror). Chopping Mall (initially titled Killbots) had a limited theatrical run but became rental store sustenance for millions of VCRs in the 1980s. Very few teenagers could pass up the amazing font and cover art.

In 2013, author, producer, and editor Mark Alan Miller teamed up with Shout! Factory to release the director's cut edition of Clive Barker's Nightbreed. Now, in 2024 Miller is the founder and president of the nostalgically modern publisher Encylopocalypse, which concentrates on horror, science-fiction, and action novels as both original content, reprints of prized vintage fiction, and new, fresh novelizations of cult films. His former collaboration with Shout! Factory inspired Encyclopocalypse to novelize Chopping Mall, which had previously never been novelized. Shout! Factory owns the rights to publish Roger Corman's film library. The marriage is a perfect curtain-jerk into more Corman films hitting the printed page. 

Chopping Mall's novelizations is by Brian G. Berry, an author of over fifty novels and the founder of Slaughterhouse Press. His most well-known series titles are Shark Files, Slasherback, and VHS Trash. Berry's experience with horror and his novelizations for SRS Cinema makes him the perfect fit for Chopping Mall: The Novelization (release date Nov. 19, 2024).

Berry's take on Chopping Mall mostly follows the film version, which is how I like my novelizations. After just reading Michael Avalonne's Friday the 13th 3-D novelization, which seemingly was written from a different script completely, I appreciate Berry's artistic integrity to preserve the film's original design.

The book, and film, concerns a technological advancement occurring at Park Plaza Mall. To detract theft and unruly behavior, Park Plaza has installed three robots deemed The Protector. They are armed with deadly, flesh-piercing devices like tasers, lasers, C-4 explosive, and pain-inducing pliers when in a pinch. The exterior of these robots is bulletproof. Why any of this is necessary at an average 80s shopping mall is never explained in the film other than security measures. 

One night after the mall closes for business, teenage employees stay late and converge inside one of the mall's furniture stores with their mattress mate. When a lightning storm frays the building's electronics, the robots are glitched and begin hunting the teens in the mall. These mop-headed survivors fight for their lives by stealing firearms, paint supplies (boom!), and other hardware to combat the run-amok robots. Like any 80s horror film there is the proverbial “final girl finale” to keep the faith. 

Berry's novel weighs in at 136 pages and presents these horrifying, stomach-clinching scenes of terror with enough descriptive detail to make it a bloody good time without being distasteful. I loved the breezy flow, shorter chapters, and the quick dismissal of the unimportant characters – pop, chop, and tase for (time) savings.

Unlike the film, Berry goes one step further and doesn't rely on the last page's embrace to welcome the credits. Instead, he includes a four page Epilogue titled “Protector 2.0” that explains the U.S. Army Special Weapons Division, funded by the Defense Department, staged this mall annihilation as an exercise to test how the robots would perform in combat. Berry also includes a scene from an undisclosed testing facility in California where the robots have killed a number of people before finally biting the hand that feeds in Dr. Vanders, in this case ripping her scalp from her head and shoving it in her mouth. Brian Berry can be nasty when he wants to be. 

Chopping Mall: The Novelization is a delightful retail rampage placing consumer combatants into an arena of oncoming death. Or debt from those monstrous credit card machines fueled on American capitalism and 80s excess. That's the believable horror story.

Update - This book was pulled by the publisher for internal discord with the author. I have a full interview with the author discussing the snafu and his position in defending his work. View that interview HERE.

Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies

Although he has written two novels, New York creative writing professor John Langan is mostly known as an author of literary gothic horror short stories. Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies is a collection of 13 short works compiled and published in 2022. I sampled four stories from the collection to see what Langon is all about.

"Kore" - This story is about a married couple with a preschooler who decide to create a Halloween haunted walk behind their house as a seasonal attraction for their kid’s classmates to enjoy. It’s filled with corny scares like rubber spiders and craft-store cobwebs. Kid stuff. Year after year the couple ups their scare game making their haunted walk more and more frightening and intricate. Could this be a vehicle to invite actual threats into the house? The climax of this very short story was plenty scary, but it really ended too soon. I wanted more, but I suppose that’s a pretty high compliment for a short story.

"Homemade Monsters" - In this one, our narrator is looking back on his childhood and his idyllic relationship with his parents among a crowded house teeming with siblings. His little rival friend gets off on destroying toys during play dates until finally enough is enough. Compelling, well-written story about childhood friendship frustrations, but not particularly scary.

"Shadow and Thirst" - August is a Newark cop visiting his father in the country. On an early morning walk, they see a ten-foot tower that has been mysteriously erected on dad’s property in the distance. The dad goes to check out this mysterious object while August heads back to the house with the family’s suddenly disturbed dog. When dad returns to the house, he’s…different. Psychotic. Dangerous. The secret to what’s happening lies in the odd tower, and the revelations are creative and satisfying. Best of the bunch.

"Corpsemouth" - The title story is the final one I read in the collection in which the narrator recalls a trip to Scotland in 1994. His father had recently died, and the trip is to visit dad’s family back in Scotland. He recalls his father’s final days in the hospital before his death, and the reader gets a glimpse into why this is a horror story. We also learn about Corpsemouth, a god/monster legend of the H.P. Lovecraft variety. The narrator also name-checks Stephen King in the story. Despite these solid ingredients, this overlong story failed to connect with me.

John Langan is a talented and inventive writer, but his work failed to frighten me in the manner Stephen King did in Night Shift or Skeleton Crew. I’d be interested in reading one of his novels because I’d really like to see what he can do with more pages to expand his thoughtful ideas.

Meanwhile, I intend to dip back into the Corpsemouth collection because these stories don’t benefit from back-to-back-to-back consumption. I’d definitely recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys their horror more cerebral and literary. Get your copy HERE. 

Sour Candy

Kealan Patrick Burke is an Irish-born contemporary horror author with a winning streak of highly-regarded terrifying novels and novellas. My first dip into his world was his 86-page Sour Candy, available as a thin paperback or a Kindle ebook.

The story opens with childless Phil grabbing some chocolate from the candy aisle of a Wal-Mart for his girlfriend at home. While browsing the sweet treats, he sees a little kid having a total meltdown in the store accompanied by his stoic and unreactive mother. Witnessing this, Phil’s primary thought is, “Man, I’m glad that isn’t my kid.”

On his way home from the store, a car plows into the back of Phil’s Chevy at a stoplight smashing the vehicle like an accordion. When the dazed Phil extracts himself from his car, he sees the driver who struck him is the lady from the store - somehow without her hellion child in tow.

That’s when things start getting scary as hell.

Giving away further plot points would spoil the fun, but if you’ve seen the terrifying film It Follows, you have an idea what’s happening. Creepy kid stories were a staple from the Paperbacks From Hell era of late 20th century horror fiction, and Sour Candy can be seen as a modern homage to that sub-genre.

I liked this story quite a bit and found it generally unnerving and quite scary in parts. I think the author was reflecting upon and playing with the anxiety that childless couples must feel at the prospect of upending their lives by having a kid. Be warned that this story won’t do much in the way of convincing young adults to take that plunge.

In any case, Sour Candy is a fun, scary ride that cemented Burke as an author to watch in the horror genre. Recommended.

Get the book HERE.

The Body Snatchers

Author Jack Finney (1911-1995) authored a number of short stories for glossy magazines like Collier's and Cosmopolitan. His career kick-started when he won a literary award from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. His first novel was 5 Against the House, originally published as a serial in Good Housekeeping in 1953 and compiled into a novel in 1954. He followed that success a year later with what is arguably his most well-known work, The Body Snatchers. It was originally published in Collier's from November through December of 1954 and then as a Dell hardcover novel in 1955. The book was such a hit that it was adapted into a film in 1956 using the familiar title Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It would be adapted to film three more times through 2007.

The Body Snatchers takes place in the northern California county of Marin. The main character is a twenty-something divorced doctor named Miles. In the beginning of the book Miles receives an office visit from an an old high-school flame named Becky. She is also divorced and the two still have a romantic chemistry. Becky is worried and explains to Miles that her cousin believes that the man claiming to be her uncle is no longer really her uncle. He looks the same, acts the same, talks the same....but something is just different. 

Later, Miles receives more patients claiming that there friends or loved ones have been replaced by an identical person (or thing!). Miles feels this is all ridiculous and could be linked to hysteria. But, he visits a guy named Jack and the narrative then takes a spin into some really dark places. 

Inside Jack's home, Miles discovers a nude body draped upon a pool table. Oddly, the body doesn't have any identifying features, as if it is still in the process of being formed or made. Jack shockingly claims that the body was infant-sized a few hours before Miles arrival. The idea is that this body is growing to eventually become a duplicate of Jack or his wife. 

Eventually Jack, Jack's wife, Miles, and Becky find seed pods around town that suggest aliens are being created to look like humans in an attempt to integrate themselves secretly into human society. The narrative's first half is built on shock, awe, and suspenseful discovery. The concept is mysterious and spirals into a paranoid sense that the town is consumed by alien beings. 

The second half of the book is a frenzied plot-development as the characters find themselves in a fight or flight situation as they prepare to leave town. Miles, again as a doctor, feels that it is his obligation and oath to protect the town. Together with Becky, he eventually talks with the alien impostors to discover their overall plan. 

As much as I loved this book and the characters, the ending was extremely disappointing. This is a common complaint with anyone who has read this book. Finney just doesn't stick the landing and it doesn't have a suitable ending. His scientific explanation for the aliens arrival doesn't make any sense when you compare it to the book's ending. But, nonetheless it doesn't ruin the entertainment factor.

There are essays and detailed reviews of this book everywhere and one can journey down any rabbit hole to find influences and critical praise of the book's underlying message. As a fan of Finney's heist novels, I've noticed that the author often creates characters that wish to be something they are not. Often young characters will dream of being wealthy and independent which spurs them into committing crimes before facing defeat, rejection, and guilt. In many ways this book has that same central theme as the alien impostors explain how things are different (better?) when the humans give into the transfer of losing themselves to become this alien form. There is also quick references about the town planning on revitalization with a proposed interstate that will bring with it more traffic and commerce. Also, Miles complains that the replacement of the town's telephone operator for an automated system seems to be a sign that humanity is replacing itself. I loved the subtext that Finney injects into his narrative. 

You owe it to yourself to read The Body Snatchers. Despite the ending, the book is frightening, thrilling, and influential to many of the “invasion” angles you see with science-fiction and horror genres to this day. Highest possible recommendation. 

Ooze

Author Anthony M. Rud authored science-fiction, horror, and detective novels and short stories between the 1920s through the 1930s using his own name and pseudonyms of R. Anthony, Ray McGillivary, and Anson Piper. He also edited Adventure magazine for three years and Detective Story Magazine for one year. He is best remembered as authoring the title novella in the historic first issue of Weird Tales – Ooze from March 1923. 

Ooze is presented in first-person narration by an unnamed narrator. The narrator learns that his former college roommate, John Cranmer, has died along with John's son Lee and his wife Peggy. The novella begins with the discovery of these deaths and then follows a non-linear narrative as the narrator pieces together the pieces of history leading to these deaths.

Working as an aggressive scientist, John purchases a swampy area of Alabama to conduct experiments on microorganisms. The idea is to somehow grow larger livestock that would provide more food to people. However, things spiral out of control when John grows a small amoeba. John's adult son Lee visits his father and purposely begins to feed the “Ooze” large animals in an effort to supersize the growth and showcase his father's scientific prowess.

I won't ruin the surprise for you but I'll hint that this slimy gelatin-encased oozy monster may or may not bite the hand that feeds. How the deaths happen, who is responsible for this creature-run-amok incident, and the mystery of where the thing lives becomes the bulk of the narrative in a fun and gross way. Literary scholars have often cited that this story may have influenced H.P. Lovecraft's style, specifically his story The Dunwich Horror. 

If you love early horror and gross-out monster mayhem, do yourself a solid and read Ooze. Get it HERE.

Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic

Utah native Sam Siciliano earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. His writing career includes nine Sherlock Holmes books as part of Titan's Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. His influences are genre fiction and Victorian writers, two loves that led to his three stand-alone vampire novels. I decided to read one of them – Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic. It was published in 1988 by Pageant Books with an incredible cover by artist Hector Garrido.

In reading the book I began seeing comparisons to Bram Stoker's Dracula. After a shallow dive online I found that Siciliano used Dracula as the template for a modern retelling of the story, relocating the tale from the Carpathian Mountains to Iowa. 

The book begins with Angela, a college student, standing by the highway in a snowstorm. She wants to get to Iowa City and spends the worst possible night begging for a ride. Roy, a Vietnam War veteran, pulls over and picks her up in a long black hearse. He's on his way to retrieve a body in a small town called Udolph. Angela agrees to go along with him in exchange for the ride to Iowa City. Fair enough.

As they pull off the highway and head to the small town they find a strung out guy collapsed by a road sign. They pick him up and together the trio arrive at a derelict old farmhouse. Inside, they are greeted by a man named Blut who appears deathly white and his weirdo girlfriend. He shows them to the body which is really just a locked coffin. He offers to host the trio of travelers overnight so they can transport the body the next morning when the snow lifts. But, things go absolutely batshit crazy. Quickly.

The chaos begins when Roy and Angela have sex (graphically explained in detail by the author). Roy goes to the bathroom down the hall to freshen up and is then raped by the albino's girlfriend. She's clearly a vampire. Roy fights his way free but it is too late. The albino guy is a master vampire and he has attacked and raped Angela. Roy escapes with his life and heads to Iowa City to retrieve a horror mythology expert, a priest, and Angela's friend. They then head back to the farmhouse to do battle with vampires.

First, this book is sort of fun in a campy sort of way. It is all preposterous and the writing isn't fabulous by any means. But, it has a nostalgic charm that reminded me of the 80s classics like Fright Night and Vamp. My biggest issue with the book is that these horny vampires rape their prey. They run around groping for a good lay which erased any scare factor the author could conjure up. I just couldn't take the evil vampire leader seriously when the image is Bela Lugosi but the dialogue is Andrew Dice Clay. It was just weird for me. 

Blood Farm: An Iowa Gothic may be entertaining to vampire buffs. But, as a horror novel with an impressive cover it just doesn't work. Very mild recommendation if you can get it on the cheap. Try HERE.

Thrill

Author Patricia Wallace's literary career is closely associated with horror paperbacks of the 1980s and 1990s. Her first novel was Traces, published by Zebra in 1982. Most of her horror novels centered around children or young adults facing some supernatural force or homicidal lunatic. I chose to read her 1990 paperback Thrill, which promised thrills inside an amusement park.

Billionaire developer Sheldon Rice has created an amusement park simply titled The Park. But, its an unusual place with three levels sitting on top of thousands of acres of rural California. The niche is that most of the park features robots as the themes – robot spiders, soldiers, creatures, etc. I was getting hints of the 1970s sci-fi flick Westworld going into the book. 

To celebrate The Park's grand-opening, a Willy Wonka type of promotional gig is provided that invites a handful of troubled teens to the dazzling entertainment mecca to experience all of the thrills for the very first time. 

Wallace presents the narrative in third-person with a variety of characters. In any given chapter the book may be from the perspective of Rice, his engineer, the park's doctor, and the variety of kids that make up the park's attendance. I found that the constant changes made for a bumpy ride through the plot-development and action. Motion sickness is my weakness, but trumping the shiftiness was the book's plodding progress. 

It takes almost 200 pages for the kids to arrive at the park. There's 388 total pages which beefed up the book's first-half narrative with tons of backstory and the various maintenance and creation that Davison, the park engineer, is constructing or finishing. Each kid has a chapter of history and predicament but none of it really mattered.

Inside the park I was hoping for Die Hard with kids being slaughtered by runaway robots (Chopping Mall!) as they attempt to free themselves from the billionaire's faulty new toy. None of that really happens. Sure, there is the occasional broken bone, severe laceration, and death, but it isn't a sizable portion of the book's payoff. The substitute is a bunch of malarkey about an old Native American who feels that the land is cursed and that Rise is receiving his comeuppance for building there. 

Thrill sucks. Period. Don't waste your time.