Horror 2022 Countdown: Deadly Friend (1986)

Deadly Friend (1986), dir. Wes Craven, Warner Bros./Pan Arts/Layton

Wes Craven had made the biggest boogeyman of the 80s and some lesser films too. Like his contemporaries he got picked up by a studio to handle a film. 

The Conway family is new in town. Single mother Jeanie (Anne Twomey) has her hands full with Paul (Matthew Laborteaux). He's not a troubled kid or anything, no, he's a genius. Yup, built himself a real robot too. BB (Charles Fleischer) is a real thinking machine and even seems fond of Paul too, like a robot dog.

You'd think this would be bigger news, but eh. 

Getting settled in, Paul quickly makes both a human friend, Tom (Michael Sharrett) and even maybe something more with girl next door Samantha (Kristy Swanson). He makes some enemies too. The first is neighborhood grouch Elvira Parker (Anne Ramsey), who seems to live to snatch any errant balls that fall in her yard, plus she greets the door with a shotgun. 

The next is someone far worse. Samantha lives with her father, the drunken jackass Harry (Richard Marcus), who's default mood seems to be punch Samantha in the face no matter what. 

Shenanigans, mostly involving BB, occur. Things take a turn on Halloween when Parker, noticing BB on her porch, unloads both barrels into the robot. Paul, though devastated, manages to save a backup on BB's memory. Thanksgiving rolls around, and Paul and Samantha's relationship has grown. They share a first kiss after dinner. This doesn't set well with her daddy, who knocks her down the stairs. 

Refusing to accept the injustice of this, Paul decides the only proper course of action is to kidnap Samantha from the hospital and shove BB's computer chips into her brain.

Starting to agree with Phelous's "Paul the genius dumbass" statement.

Paul gives himself a hearty slap on his back, and why wouldn't he? His best friend is back and inside the body of his best gal. Everything's beer and skittles, right?

Well, yes, ignoring that Samantha finds her dad and twists his neck like a bottlecap, plus she finds Elvira. Remember Halloween? Yeah, you can bet BB remembers Halloween.

After this, Paul thinks maybe BB could use a patch or two. Can he fix it before the body count rises? 

Disappointing; Craven is in fine form and the film is technically agreeable. The final shot utterly ruins the film, however, and twists everything into a rotten mess. Best to stop the film before the last five minutes.