Deadly Friend (1986)

Director: Wes Craven
Cast:
Matthew Laborteaux/Paul
Kristy Swanson/Sam
Michael Sharrett/Tom
Anne Twomey/Paul's Mother

Plot: Intelligent Paul and his robot BB move to town with his sweet mother. He falls for his cute neighbor Sam, but when his robot is shot to death and Sam is accidentally killed he uses BB's data chip to put into Sam's body to revive her body. But now Sam is a lean, mean killing machine. What is a love struck boy to do?

Review:
I'm going to start off by saying I'm a big Wes Craven fan, but I've never heard of Deadly Friend. When I found it on his resume on IMDB, I was intrigued by the plot. I love horror, and I like a good romance as well. I especially love when they are combined (Let the Right One In is my favorite horror/romance yet!). Upon research I heard it is based on a pretty good novel, which I never read, so I'm going into this film with no expectations. All I wanted was a good horror/romance film. Did I get that?
Let's start off with the good first. The cast is what made it happen. Matthew Laborteaux as Paul is actually pretty good. He made his too intelligent for his own good character seem believable and was VERY likable in the role, while Michael Sharret as Tom plays his best friend. Sharret has a very good appeal to him and he added depth to his character and created a very likable friend who I wouldn't mind having as a friend. But the standout is none other than Kristy Swanson as the tragic Sam. Sam is a girl abused by her father but she is too afraid to leave him. Swanson plays her with such vulnerability and class that if I wasn't gay, I would have fallen in love with her. I really wanted to pull her out of the screen and to save her from her asshole of a father. Men like him should be locked up, tortured, and beaten for eternity so they can see if they like it!
These three characters all played off each other wonderfully and I thought Laborteaux and Swanson had a great chemistry with one another. I actually believed in their blossoming relationship. I just wanted to see them fall in love and get away. But this is a horror/romance, so something bad WILL happen. When Sam is accidentally killed by her father, it all goes to hell. I really wanted her to live and to escape from his clutches. Paul takes it upon himself to save her with BB's chip. Oh right! I forgot to mention that Paul is a young genius who has a robot he built. It sounds cheesy, but the robot was pretty cute and funny and brought smiles to my face.
The film had a GREAT build up so when the second half started, I couldn't wait to see where they would take then teenage frankenstein type love story...And this is where all my problems lie. They should've left it as a straight romance film. First of all, how come when Sam has the robot chip in her head...she all of a sudden has super human strength? It doesn't make much sense. She might have a chip in her brain, but her body is STILL human, not robotic. So the added strength brought nothing.
Then there are ALL the scenes where Craven rips off his own Nightmare on Elm Street. (When the father goes down to the basement). It is so obvious that the studio had him add in the dream sequences to bank off the VERY profitable (and perfect) Nightmare film. It's a shame, cause this film could've been great on its own. The death scenes were pretty badly done, and the gore was both unnecessary and badly done. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE gore, but this film just didn't need it! (That basketball scene - UGH!) What started off as a sweet romance film, turns into a bad horror film with a cute girl killing people who wronged her one by one. It's a shame! Becasue I KNOW there was once a good film in this! I can feel it in my bones! I can feel the studio tampering from this film. Even Craven's directing was pretty flat. Then we got the old woman and the abusive father characters who had no dimension what so ever. The father could've been even scarier if he was more realistic, and that old woman just annoyed the shit out of me. Plus what the hell were those dream sequences doing in this film?! This is NOT Nightmare on Elm Street! Stop pretending it is. But whoever lit this film did an amazing job! I will give them that!
Plus there are the dumb mistakes characters make, and some realism issues. (For example, when the doctor talks to Paul and his mother about Sam, can't he NOT do that, because they aren't family? Just saying.)
I DID love the themes of love brought up though - about how love can make people do crazy and bad things. I like how love messed up Paul's head and now he created a monster out of a beautiful person. Too bad they didn't explore these themes MUCH more.
The soundtrack was actually pretty great and reeled me into the film, even when the film was losing me.
And then we have the ending...oh god that ending...The finale was pretty dumb, when it should have been sad and poetic. That final scene was EVEN WORSE. Almost ruined the film for me!
But the film was still half a good film, that needed more development. But I blame the fuckin' studios for this! It's a damn shame cause I KNOW this was once a great film.

Overall Grade: 5/10