The Wes Craven Horror Classic Netflix Needs To Save
In the years following the massive successes of the first film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, horror legend Wes Craven became one of the most sought-after filmmakers in the genre. Before the 1980s were over, Craven gave audiences the cult classics Shocker, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and The Hills Have Eyes II, cementing his name on a short list of masters of horror. But one film he directed, the 1986 sci-fi/horror entry Deadly Friend, took a bad dive upon its theatrical release and risks being lost to time.
A Boy And His Robot
Deadly Friend is the story of teenage prodigy Paul Conway (Matthew Laborteaux) and his transition into his new community. Paul lives with his mother Jeannie (Anne Twomey), and attends the local university on a scholarship. Wes Craven’s character Paul is a computer and electronics genius, whose greatest creation is the robot he built named BB.
BB is mobile, capable of problem solving, and seems to have some level of autonomous behavior. When Paul is picked on by punks in the neighborhood, BB steps in and physically halts Paul’s tormentors. Paul’s intellect and kind nature attract the attention of the girl next door, Samantha (Kristy Swanson), a teen who lives alone with her physically abusive alcoholic father.
A Resurrected Girlfriend
When BB is destroyed by a shotgun blast from another neighbor, Elvira Parker (Anne Ramsey), Paul is inconsolable. But his budding relationship with Samantha begins to bring him out of his funk over the following weeks and he begins to open back up. Tragically, Samantha’s father pushes her down the steps of their home while in a drunken rage, killing her.
Deadly Friend begins to show Wes Craven’s horror elements from this point forward. Paul steals Samantha’s body from the morgue and rewires her brain with the microchips from BB. Believing he’s going to have control over his resurrected girlfriend, Paul hides her in his backyard shed for the time being.
Samantha’s Sinister Shift In Circuitry
But Samantha isn’t the sweet girl she was before she was killed. Deadly Friend sees Paul’s creation stalk and kill her (and BB’s) former tormentors in true Wes Craven fashion. As the movie continues, Paul desperately works to elevate Samantha’s humanity before it becomes the death of him and everyone he cares about.
From Rom-Com To Rampage
Deadly Friend begins as an almost light-hearted teen rom-com, with the nerdy Paul getting the pretty girl next door. Even the antagonists in the first third of the film are dispatched in comedic ways, as BB shows the neighborhood bullies that no one should mess with Paul. But a Wes Craven film isn’t complete with good amounts of gore and a handful of fun kill scenes, which take the movie’s innocent foundation and builds upon it a structure of pure terror.
The storyline does lag some at the halfway point, but Samantha’s killing spree quickly gets Deadly Friend back on track. The movie shows Wes Craven being capable of adding depth and complexity to characters, unlike many of the ones featured in his previous endeavors.
Forgotten Film That Deserves A Second Chance
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Originally, the director intended for the film to be more sci-fi than horror and minus the gore. Fights with the studios created script rewrites and reshoots that took Deadly Friend down the violent path of his other films, rather than follow the one he originally elected to take. Despite the finished product not being what Wes Craven envisioned, the film is a solid horror entry and certainly one that, like its character Samantha, deserves a new life.
Fans of ’80s horror will certainly find a hidden gem in Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend. The Wes Craven classic isn’t available to stream for free, but you can catch Deadly Friend with a subscription to AppleTV.
