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Deadly Friend

Play trailer 1:21 Poster for Deadly Friend R 1986 1h 32m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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20% Tomatometer 35 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
A teenage whiz kid (Matthew Laborteaux) puts his robot's brain in the head of a nearly dead girl (Kristy Swanson).
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Deadly Friend

Deadly Friend

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Critics Consensus

An uninspired departure for Wes Craven, mired by an uneven premise; beware, this is one Deadly Friend.

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Critics Reviews

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Eleanor Ringel Cater Atlanta Journal-Constitution Deadly Friend is a droll inversion of the typical teen slice-and-dice formula. Dec 9, 2022 Full Review Robert Garrett Boston Globe More cute than creepy. Despite a nice B-movie premise, the film quickly goes limp. Dec 9, 2022 Full Review Alan Mirabella New York Daily News It's boring, unsuspenseful and predictable. Dec 9, 2022 Full Review Dann Gire Chicago Daily Herald By the ridiculous, obligatory shockeroo finale, we can't escape the feeling Craven has played us all for schmucks. Rated: 1/4 Dec 10, 2022 Full Review Bob Ross Tampa Tribune Slower moving, with fewer killings and effects, Craven's new film is unlikely to draw the crowds that made Nightmare a box office phenomenon. Rated: 2/4 Dec 10, 2022 Full Review Stephen Hunter Baltimore Sun Craven took a grave premise and turned it into a tapestry of provocative deep-brain imagery: Deadly Friend is all surface. Dec 9, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (235) audience reviews
Jason W What a strange flick. Pure camp. The first act plays as a silly comedy about a little robot friend, created by a collage student who acts like a 12 year old, along with his newly found, equally kid-like cohort friends. However, an abusive and molester type father turns the tide for the film, which veers in a totally different direction. From there, the story jerks toward yet another sci-fi avenue which feels like it was taken right from Rod Serling. The acting is very campy and some of the editing is horrendous, but I feel In a way, that's what gives it a personality and charm. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 12/02/24 Full Review Audience Member Over 35 years old I seriously think this is a very underrated entry by Wes Craven It's a shame when it came out it bombed at the box office making only $9 million and got shredded by critics Craven had his original version filled with more scenes of character development but because of the popularity of Nightmare on Elm Street test audiences were upset by the lack of horror and gore So they ended up adding more scenes and doing reshoots re-editing the whole thing It makes the tone a jumbled mess and the ending still makes no sense, Craven even dismissed the final product because of Warner Bros. studio meddling At least the movie’s garnered a cult following over time It still has its merits: Kristy Swanson herself and the robot BB which is adorable The score by Charles Bernstein manages to make a lot of scenes creepy and emotional considering this is about a teen desperate to bring his friend back to life with the use of a computer chip Plus the film did predict a possible future for us in terms of robotics, automation, and the dangers of hubris when it comes to science Serves as a big cautionary tale seeing how crossing the ethical lines are dangerous merging machinery with human biology Particularly with the radio frequency identification chip, definitely see the concern of people not wanting the government to implant artificial devices inside us wanting to monitor our daily activity Scientists today are capable of such things but perhaps blinded by greed more and curiosity Not one of the worst things ever by Craven it just could’ve been different then what we got Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/14/23 Full Review chris h Silly 80s horror...it has many faults,but still has its moments of charm. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 10/07/23 Full Review Mu S É hilário de tão ruim, ele tem um enredo bacana, tem umas pessoas muito boas no elenco, mas não é nada de demais, é um filme bem hilário. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 10/01/23 Full Review B Rad Silly plot, some pretty bad acting and unlikable characters. Liked it when I was 12yrs old, Not so much anymore Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/31/23 Full Review Michael D Love this move !!! I watch this movie so many times as a kid and still enjoy it today Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Deadly Friend

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A teenage whiz kid (Matthew Laborteaux) puts his robot's brain in the head of a nearly dead girl (Kristy Swanson).
Director
Wes Craven
Producer
Robert M. Sherman, Robert Crawford Jr.
Screenwriter
Bruce Joel Rubin
Production Co
Warner Brothers/Seven Arts, Pan Arts Productions
Rating
R
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA)
$8.9M
Runtime
1h 32m
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