George A. Romero’s elite classic Dawn of the Dead turns 45 years old this year, while Zack Snyder’s remake approaches its own 20th anniversary. But the two different versions of Dawn of the Dead are far from the only two horror movies set inside shopping malls.
“Mall Horror” is basically its own subgenre, and below are two under-discussed gems in the shopping mall arena that are well worth your time as you celebrate the 45th anniversary of the greatest “Mall Horror” movie ever made – and the one that started it all…
Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge (1989)
Directed by Richard Friedman
By the late 80s, the slasher boom had all but dried up. That’s not to say there aren’t gems to be mined from the era, but the heyday had passed. Shot in the famous Sherman Oaks Galleria (featured in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Commando, Chopping Mall, and many more films), Phantom of the Mall is a very fun, very odd duck of the 80s slashers cycle. If you couldn’t tell by the title, it’s a horror riff on the classic Phantom of the Opera – this time, y’know, in a mall.
All of the essential elements of the Phantom story are here, or at least made reference to. The kick comes from how the film uses the mall gimmick to twist the story’s iconography. I knew I was in for a treat when we saw our Phantom (Derek Rydell) make his iconic mask from the face of a store mannequin. He slinks and sneaks about the mall through the ventilation, and uses the environment against his prey with ease. He even has an elaborate lair.
Eric’s Revenge barrels along with an easy pace, tossing all kinds of cornball fun at the audience. The slasher trappings mostly make up the first half of the film, with some of the slayings being amusingly intricate in their staging. From there it’s a game of figuring out the central mystery. Why is Eric seeking revenge? Will he reconnect with the love that was taken from him? And is that Pauly Shore in an early supporting role?!
Phantom of the Mall has that intangible charm to it that keeps genre fans so enamored with the 80s. It’s sincere in its attempt to update the source material for a (then) modern horror audience. The love story between Eric and Melody is actually kind of sweet in a saccharine, soap opera way. As cheeseball as it is, I actually felt for the guy despite knowing every beat of the overall story – because y’know, we’ve seen it a dozen times before.
Genre fans should keep an eye out for Ken Foree in a small but fun role as well as schlock king Gregory Scott Cummins (Action USA, Caged Fury, Stone Cold) as a sleazy heavy.
Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge likely won’t make anyone’s list of top 80s slashers, but it has got everything where it counts and runs the gamut on tone – it’s a violent slasher, a melodramatic teen romance, and a crime thriller all mixed together in a brew that goes down surprisingly easy.
The Initiation (1984)
Directed by Larry Stewart
This is cheating. The Initiation doesn’t take place in a mall per say…just a big ass department store. Think of it as a baby mall.
On the surface Larry Stewart’s The Initiation features most of the 80s slasher clichés – sororities, pledges, pranks, escaped mental patients, and a preoccupation with sexual activities. Not that that’s a bad thing.
The actually initiation itself is built up as the film’s climax, where the pledges must break into the baby mall in question and steal a security guard uniform. The constant referencing and lead up the initiation ritual adds a nice element of tension building to the climax and helps in making the department store setting more than just an arbitrary place to stage some slashing.
The Initiation stands out from the pack in a few surprising ways. The film does the work to get the audience invested in its protagonist Kelly (Daphne Zuniga) as well as effectively pulling off a last act shock twist that actually shocks. Well, the genre savvy can maybe guess the twist ending, but either I’m too arrogant or easily bamboozled, because I was sure I pegged the ending from the beginning. Turns out I was wrong. I raise my glass in appreciation of the film the first time I watched it for actually pulling the wool over my eyes.
Zuniga’s Kelly is a very likable slasher protagonist. She’s dealing with childhood trauma, intense nightmares, taxing therapy, and those damned Mean Girl Sorority Sisters on top of it all. Oh, and the little problem of a slasher killer knocking people off. The film takes its time to make Kelly a believable character, especially by the genre’s standards. Much of slasher fandom is the spectator sport aspect to it – where we may not particularly like or care about the victims, we just wanna see some gnarly kills. I was invested in Kelly and most of the supporting characters were genuinely enjoyable, which actually made me care a little when some of them bit the dust.
Largely well acted with some great kills, likable characters, and a well executed twist, The Initiation is one of the more unsung slashers of the early 80s – and it even makes a good triple feature with The House On Sorority Row and Happy Birthday To Me.
The post ‘Phantom of the Mall’ and ‘The Initiation’ – A Slasher Double Feature to Celebrate 45 Years of “Mall Horror” appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.