Chopping Mall
Blu-ray
Director: Jim Wynorski
Screenwriter: Jim Wynorski, Steve Mitchell
Cast: Kelli Maroney, Tony O’Dell, John Terlesky, Russell Todd, Karrie Emerson, Barbara Crampton, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Dick Miller
Distributor: Lionsgate
Rated R | 95 Minutes
Release Date: September 27, 2016

“Where shopping can cost you an arm and a leg.”

Exploitation filmmaker Jim Wynorski has given us so many classic films. The Return of Swamp Thing, Scream Queen Hot Tub Party, 976-Evil II, Ghoulies IV, Sorceress, The Bare Wench Project, The Witches of Breastwick, Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre – the list goes on and on. Of the 100+ movies the writer-director has made, however, his finest accomplishment is 1986’s Chopping Mall.

Starring Kelli Maroney (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Night of the Comet) and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond), Chopping Mall is the epic story of eight teenagers trapped in a state-of-the-art shopping mall, pursued by homicidal security droids, also known as Killbots. As the robots pick off the frisky teenagers with their high-powered lasers, the survivors break into a sporting goods store (“Peckinpah’s”) to secure weapons. Armed with rifles, propane tanks, and golf carts, the denim-clad kids wage war on the murder-bots with Park Plaza Mall serving as their battlefield.

Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight
Blu-ray
Director: Ernest Dickerson
Writers: Mark Bishop, Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris
Cast: Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Thomas Haden Church, CCH Pounder, John Kassir, Dick Miller
Scream Factory
Rated R | 93 Minutes
Release Date: October 20, 2015

“Ready for your deadtime story?”

Directed by Ernest Dickerson (The Wire, The Walking Dead), 1995’s Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight stars William Sadler (The Mist) as a mysterious drifter known as Brayker.

Brayker possesses the last of seven ancient keys that protect humanity from the forces of darkness. He is pursued by a demonic Collector (Billy Zane, Titanic), who has retrieved the other six keys.

In his quest for the final key, the Collector raises an army of goddamn demons against Brayker and the inhabitants of a run-down hotel. Armed with automatic weapons and some sacred blood, Brayker and Jeryline (Jada Pinkett-Smith) must rally the other guests in a gruesome battle against the Collector and his evil horde of ghouls.

That Guy Dick Miller
Director: Elijah Drenner
Cast: Dick Miller, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, William Sadler, Corey Feldman, John Sayles, Mary Woronov, Robert Picardo, Zach Galligan
World Premiere | End Films
Not Rated | 91 Minutes
Release Date: March 7, 2014 (SXSW)

Dick Miller is the last of the great American character actors. Whether sharing the screen with Nicholson, Hanks, Schwarzenegger, or The Ramones, Dick has been stealing scenes since his screen debut in 1955.

Miller has worked with some of the great directors: Scorsese, Corman, Dante, Cameron, Demme, and more. If you’re an avid moviegoer, you definitely know his face, but few know his name and even fewer know his story: an aspiring writer turned accidental actor.

Directed by Elijah Drenner, That Guy Dick Miller documents Miller’s funny and unexpected story, featuring interviews from the directors, producers, co-stars, and friends who have helped make him Hollywood’s leading “that guy.”