DEADLY FRIEND (1986)
Tagline: Not all nightmares happen on Elm Street.
Even though this movie was directed by horror icon Wes Craven, it still falls into the category of obscure even for the cult following it has. In fact, a lot of them are still clamoring for the director’s cut of the film which might not end up being horror at all. Apparently, Wes Craven was so pissed off at the studio version of this movie that he disowned it. The original idea was to make it a supernatural fiction thriller that had a PG rating. So instead of getting what was supposed to be a more heartfelt yet still macabre effort that portrayed monsters being the ones with human skin, we ended up getting something quite different.
In this one, this dude named Paul (played by Matthew Labyorteaux) is a massive super genius and he makes a robot named BB (no, not BB-8 from STAR WARS) that will kick you’re a-s if you even think about messing with him. Paul has just moved into a new town and quickly meets this girl next door named Samantha Pringle (played by Kristy Swanson from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER). The two become inseparable over the holidays along with Paul’s other friend Tom (played by Michael Sharrett, who apparently stopped acting in 1995). Samantha is sadly facing horrific abuse from her father and he ends up essentially killing her. While she is in a brain-dead state, her father decides he wants her unplugged so to speak. Can Paul get to Samantha in time with some neuro-AI technology he developed to reboot her brain?
This is one of those weird movies where the first half is actually more awesome and more endearing for the most part than the second half (at least in my head). In what turns out to be almost a BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN type situation this thing takes a 180, and for me, it wasn’t for the better. Kristy Swanson is great as Samantha throughout the entire film, especially in regard to the duplicity of the character. However, everyone we are supposed to care about in this movie is far more likable in the first half of the movie. BB (Paul’s robot) starts out awesome as kind of a witty character with the mannerisms of Cartman from South Park. He even sounds slightly like a robotic version of Cartman. I also started liking Tom who was a bit more reserved, but wow. This thing got hit with a huge dump truck of “What the cow?” in its final stages.
While some of the horror elements are almost comical in nature, others are pretty sinister which kind of makes this whole movie feel a bit disjointed (even though 2 of the more terrifying scenes were dream sequences). We see something similar in nature in both FULL METAL JACKET and THE FRIGHTENERS where the movie starts out one way and then takes a massive turn, but in this movie, it hardly feels intended. I think there could have been some wiser choices on the part of the studio regarding this whole thing. It actually sounds like Craven’s vision might have played out better long term. I also wasn’t in love with either the score or the soundtrack.
Having said all of that, this might be one of those movies that if watched a few more times could probably grow on me. I also didn’t love A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET the first time I saw it. What I do appreciate about this movie is Kristy Swanson’s effort and the acting overall. In a movie that sounds like it had a ton of off-set and on-set issues, we did end up getting something of a unique and bizarre film here. The ending is also freaking bonkers for anyone that hasn’t seen it. It also contains a scene involving a basketball that has sort of become the stuff of “if you know, you know” legend.
For 80's horror fans, this is another one of those “at least check it out” movies, but don’t come into this one guns blazing with bullets of realism. I give DEADLY FRIEND a reserved 4 out of 7 just in regards to the effort and intrigue of the movie we got.
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