Movie Review: Deadly Friend

Deadly Friend (1986, Wes Craven) - 10.0
A brilliant teen, with an understanding of neuro-science and robotics, has built an adorable robot named BB who rambles nonsense in an adorably demonic voice. But the robot is destroyed by a vicious neighbor (Anne Ramsey), and shortly after that, the girl he has fallen for (Kristy Swanson, also quite adorable) dies. Sad and desperate, he does the only practical thing. Brings both of them back at the same time by putting the brain of BB into the body of Swanson. Things don’t work out exactly as planned, though, as his new Friend... turns out to be...

The plot may have some absurd elements, but if you can embrace it, this is one of the saddest, most touching movies you will ever see. I was genuinely distraught by the end of it. It’s a horror movie that manages to combine a plethora of cuteness with heart-breaking tragedy, centered around a robot and a pretty girl, with moments of disturbing cruelty, some gory effects, and one of the best kill scenes of all time (it involves a basketball). In other words, this movie was made for me personally! The film’s been criticized and largely dismissed because it jumps genres a bit, and sometimes seems like it was made for kids, but other times is clearly intended as adult horror, leaving people wondering what audience it’s meant for. Well, it’s me. I AM THE AUDIENCE. And surely there are like-minded others who appreciate gory horror movies that are also tear-jerking and adorable. It really delivers on so many levels of what I desire out of a film, and it’s unbearably appealing. It’s fucking amazing. It’s perfect. And I completely, whole-heartedly love the shit out of it. A new all-time favorite.

~1998: VHS
10/24/11: 35mm