DEADLY FRIEND (1986)
If you're going to call yourself a horror fan, you better watch every Wes Craven film. Random Robot Month gave me the opportunity to take this one off my list. I still haven't seen A Vampire in Brooklyn, but um, I have my rudiments covered. Can we just pretend - for the sake of this capsule - that I've seen every Wes Craven film? Thanks. I went into Deadly Friend with zero expectations. I didn't even know that it was the victim of reshoots, but I would have figured it out. It's clear that we have a struggle on our hands, an epic joust between a somewhat wholesome sci-fi story and an unambiguous slasher that forces gore into every available open wound. Ouch. Paul is a whiz kid who makes robots. He likes the girl next door, so when she is accidentally killed by her abusive father, his Frankenstein faculties impel him to bring her back from the dead. Basically, what we have here is I Was a Teenage Bride of Re-Animator. Kristy Swanson plays the half-undead Samantha well, but it's hard to buy her as a monster threat.
Of course, that could be the point. That's the problem, dear reader. Deadly Friend aims too high. Yet somehow, I was entertained. There's something cozy about the autumnal vibes here, even if Halloween is merely a backdrop. I see trick-or-treaters, I smile. It's that simple. An honorable mention goes out to Anne Ramsey. In my head, this movie shares a universe with Throw Momma from the Train. Elvira's basketball death is patently ridiculous, and I'm here for it. I might recommend this flick for most of the wrong reasons, although it's easy to understand why Craven felt disenfranchised by the final product. I think everyone can agree that BB is an objectively delightful robot. At the very least, I'd rank Deadly Friend above Deadly Blessing. And A Vampire in Brooklyn? No? Fine, not that I need your permission.
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