Deadly Friend |
  • USA • 1986 • 91m •   • Directed by: Wes Craven. • Starring: Matthew Labyorteaux, Kristy Swanson, Michael Sharrett, Anne Twomey, Anne Ramsey, Richard Marcus, Russ Marin, Lee Paul, Andrew Roperto, Charles Fleischer, Robin Nuyen, Frank Cavestani, Merritt Olsen. • Music by: Charles Bernstein.      Paul is a new kid in town with a robot named "BB". He befriends Samantha and the three of them have a lot of good times together. That is, until Samantha's abusive father throws her down some stairs and kills her. In an effort to save her life, Paul implants BB's computer brain into Samantha's human brain.
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Review:
Oh Wes, what were you thinking? Now, what to make of it. Yep, it's feebly dumb, but slightly diverting with a few memorable scenes and not much else. Well, I guess I would be lying if I didn't add Kristy Swanson to being one of the draw cards. Her robotic turn where she's brought back to life was facetiously done.
Taken from the novel "Friend" by Diana Henstall, this starts off like a "Short Circuit" rip-off than transforms into a modern day Frankenstein retelling. Craven really overplays his hand in over-plotting the film with elements of a family drama with moralistic babble, which then suddenly skyrockets into cheesy daftness and steers it into horror territory with mostly minor results. The simple story feels sparse with many redundant avenues that dig many more holes in the unbelievable developments and flawed material. Circulating through the flick is an easy-going sense of humour that fits in naturally well. It never really takes itself far too seriously, and oh the infamous basketball decapitation is a real scene-stealer and purely a riot. What else is a scene-stealer has got to be the film's enticing gimmick, BB the robot. Although, at times I didn't know what the heck it was mumbling about, but it was a likable inclusion nonetheless. You should listen to the catchy (or maybe drawn out) tune that plays over the credits for a chuckle.
Mechanically dicey direction by Craven lends the film to have quite a languid pace and junky set pieces with wilted suspense. Despite some effectively unpleasant jolts and the use of splatter, it just feels like they have thrown a spanner the mix in hoping it would take off. Instead it's pretty much a hasty and fumbled attempt. This goes for the daftly incompetent climax, which leads to a hopelessly idiotic (if unpredictable) conclusion. The soaring music score in the film strangely has energy and roughly tugs on the emotional chords. The performances were handled in a tolerable manner. The young cast; Kristy Swanson, Matthew Laborteaux and Michael Sharrett are sound in their roles and never let the overall silliness affect their performances. Anne Twomey was pleasantly engaging as Paul's mother and Anne Ramsey is superb as the stingy neighbour, Elvira.
This was a lean period for Craven and it shows up here in this pretty middling offbeat failure. Not his worst, but it's not too far from the bottom. But better was to come with the voodoo horror piece, "The Serpent and the Rainbow".
Review by mylimbo from the Internet Movie Database.
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