Wednesday, February 13, 2013

DEADLY FRIEND (1986)

Neurology and artificial intelligence nerd Paul moves to a new town to attend college.  He brings along his homemade robot BB.  BB seems pretty cool, but he has some deep seeded anger issues.  Paul's thrilled to meet his sexy new neighbor Kristy Swanson, but not so thrilled about her abusive father.  During an innocent Halloween prank they think it'd be funny to ring the doorbell of the cranky old lady across the street.  Bad idea.  As soon as Kristy gets up on the porch the old bat charges outside and kills BB with a shotgun.  A short time later Kristy's dad beats her to death.  I think you can see where this is going.  That's right.  Zombie robot.

You would think that since Paul is a teenager he would turn his new zombie robot girlfriend into a pleasure unit, but he's doesn't even have time for that because as soon as she wakes up she goes on a killing spree.  Including one of the greatest kills in the history big studio movies: the basketball scene.  Holy fuck.  Anybody who saw this movie as a kid knows what an unexpected shocker that was.

As entertainment I liked DEADLY FRIEND.  It seemed like it had its heart in the right place, but at the same time it seemed kinda uneven.  Like it was going in too many directions at once.  Interesting premise for a story, alright acting, nice simple look to it, surprising violence, weak science, zero nudity.  Honestly I wouldn't mind see a remake of the story.  Worth a single watch at least.