Deadly Friend (1986) – Film Review

Director: Wes Craven
Cast: Matthew Laborteaux, Kristy Swanson, Michael Sharrett
Certificate: 15

By Roger Crow

It’s hard to know what Wes Craven was thinking when he made this follow-up to A Nightmare on Elm Street in the mid-1980s. Though on the surface it looks like Short Circuit, that 1986 John Badham comedy thriller involving a runaway robot, the tone for Deadly Friend skews somewhere between a PG-friendly family comedy and a 15 certificate horror thriller.

The reason for this uneasy shift between tones is apparently because the audience were expecting more of a Craven film than a cute family fantasy flick, so extra gory scenes were added to keep them happy. And in attempting to please everyone, there’s a good chance nobody was thrilled with the result.

The protagonist is Paul (Matthew Laborteaux). Some may remember him from long-forgotten TV series Whiz Kids. He’s made a robot, which uses artificial intelligence to learn, but stylistically is less aesthetic than Metal Mickey from the early 1980s ITV kids series.

“Jaw-droppingly stupid”

Anyway, Paul has moved next door to Sam (Kristy Swanson), a beautiful young woman who is being terrorised by her abusive father (Richard Marcus – shockingly bad). In one ridiculous dream sequence, she stabs him with the neck of a broken vase, which is used as a funnel for a dreadful blood spurt. This would be more effective if the whole thing hadn’t been played like sort of ridiculous EC comics-style horror.

Anyway, when the abusive dad punches his daughter, Sam falls down the stairs and suffers fatal brain damage. Naturally her boyfriend decides to transplant his destroyed robot’s brain into his girlfriend’s. It’s like Weird Science, without the laughs. Oh, and resurrected Sam is truly terrible.

The picture quality isn’t bad for a four decade-old movie. Obviously it isn’t going to be as hi-def as many films these days which could be shot on iPhones and look 10 times better. But the biggest problems are the script, the one-dimensional characters, that dreadful robot, awful, generic bully villains, and some jaw-droppingly stupid set pieces. Cast wise, look out for Anne Ramsay, who later enjoyed success in Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito comedy Throw Mama From the Train. Her inevitable demise must rank as one of the worst screen deaths ever committed to celluloid.

“Drag”

It’s incredible to think this was written by Bruce Joel Ruben, the ace screenwriter who later had a huge success with Ghost, and 1991’s cult hit Jacob‘s Ladder. Yes, all good screenwriters have to start somewhere, but the script really should’ve wound up in the bin rather than getting a greenlight.

Though a mere 91 minutes, Deadly Friend felt three times longer; domestic scenes especially drag like a wet weekend.

I can’t believe it’s taken me almost 40 years to see this offering from one of the masters of the horror genre, but on the ‘strength’ of this I wish I had waited longer.

Roger Crow( Writer )

Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com; nostalgiahhh film podcast

You do not have any posts.