No Budget Theater: Deadly Friend
Wes, for those of us who remember, we were disappointed -well, most of us. And those who were not certainly will be by the time they endure the atrocity known as Shocker, which I will be adding to my review queue eventually. For now, we get a hint of the pain to come with Deadly Friend. Wes Craven directed this shortly after the major success of A Nightmare on Elm Street and long before the Scream trilogy.
Nutshell: Science genius and his robot move to new town, befriend neighbor girl, robot gets destroyed, girl gets killed, nerd merges girl and robot, cyborg zombie goes on killing rampage, cops shoot it down, crazy ending, cheesy credits. It is an interesting mix though. Some would call this a romance gone wrong or even a neo-Frankenstein slasher flick.
Revenge Fantasy: This is also a revenge-fulfillment gratification film in that it sets up a few ultimately bad characters that we the audience love to hate. We hate them so much that we’re rooting for their death when they finally get it; but hey, they were evil to the core, so the audience can watch them get butchered guilt free, right?
Themes: reanimation, playing god, unnatural nature, euthanasia, and science run amok. And of course, the central theme continues as with all 80s horror/sci-fi movies: machines are inherently evil (they took a lot of jobs in the 80s) and will rampage, turning on mankind. This movie pays tribute to Frankenstein, Elm Street, Carrie, Terminator, Short Circuit, and many more.
Characters
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Not Pictured: Paul’s Mom, the Prof, Hood Lackies, cops, hospital staff, and students.
Screen Captures
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Evil Pac-Man!!!!! |
Finally, the Actual Recap...
| For whatever reason,
Albert…I mean, Paul, decides it’s time to ditch the prairie and go to
tech school with his life-size pac-man robot, BB. The movie opens in the
back of a van parked at a store. Paul must have wanted a Slim Jim or a Dew
(extreme dudes!). One of the redneck extras from China O’Brian
walks by and
decides to break into the van. He reaches for the purse when he hears
some lame blurps and beeps. He turns to see something off screen and
naturally starts to hit on it …just before an orange 80s robot arm
clenches the swamp hippy by the neck. It’s BB and he’s showing his
secret mean streak in the opening scene. He lets go when he hears Paul and
his mom approach. How did they pay for
the stuff without her purse? Well, that intro scene really started
things off with a thud.
New Kid on the Block
Paul, his Mom, and his robot, BB, are heading to a new town where Albert plans to teach at the local college. Someone watches them pull up from a nearby house in a Friday-like style, showing only a hand at the window. They arrive and we get to overhear the drunken neighbor. BB makes blubbering noises as they check out their new neighborhood. Why did Prairie-boy program his robot to act this way? Also, is he intentionally retro, making references to the robots from the 50s (hell, even some of those talked, albeit badly)? BB is annoying though, that’s for sure. I think they're trying to use a "cute" element similar to Short Circuit, but with a lame twist. Meet the Neighbors Tom, the paperboy almost wrecks into BB when he sees him. Paul and Tom are friends now. Paul explains that BB has free will (uh-oh) and is a fast learner. I see how Skynet originally got started now! Later, in the new house, BB acts kinda weird and the film moves in fast motion to show how strong BB is (pushing a piano with force) just to get his battery recharged. Um ok. Next, we meet the professor and get to see the new lab, which of course will come to use later. Oh, BB likes the skeleton…so machines are destined for evil I guess! Meet the Victims In the following sequence, we’ll be introduced to the three victims of the show, and in the order of their disposal. You’ll readily identify these three based on their jerkness-level. BB mows the lawn. Neighbor girl says hi to BB. Boy meets girl. BB is a chick magnet. Right away, Sam tries to hide her bruises. Paul notices them but doesn’t say anything. Paul and her do seem to hit it off. Paul, this is obviously too good to be true. Abusive Dad (1) appears, Sam gets anxious, and BB growls. She wigs out and heads into the house. Yup that guy’s a goner.
They continue the paper route when we see a glimpse of motorcycles going by off in the distance…I smell bad guys. Also, a sound guy decides to apathetically take a walk around the set during the shoot. Ah-ha! I was right. It's Karl, the Neighborhood Bully(3), arriving up for some bully-ish-ness-ness. They start to make fun of BB and Karl slaps on him. Paul tries to intervene but a couple of his mullet goons hold him back. BB gets angry and grabs the lead bully by the nads with his hydraulic grip, and the guy starts singin’ soprano. BB clenches tighter to some cheesy music until Paul makes him call off the Molly Hatchet fans and the hoodlums take off. We know we’ll see Karl again because he says he'll be back for them as he runs off. Yeah, he's a goner. So, I think we’ve established the three victims well enough: we got the abusive, pro-wrestlin’-watchin, child-hater; we have the bitchy crazy old lady who pulls out the shotgun; and we got the leader of the motorcycle mullets. The questions now are, how will they go out and in what order? Oh you just wait and see. There may not be many death scenes in this flick but trust me, there is at least one that you will never forget. Sam shows up at Paul’s with a box of ho-hos. She likes him. Naturally, Paul takes her up to his room right away. And she’s unnaturally impressed with his science junk and geekspeak. He brings up some great conversation about how he's never had a girl up in his room before. About this time her Abusive Dad shows up, pissed as hell, wondering where she is. She comes down, insisting they were just studying. Unnecessary Dream Sequence #1
Rumor has it that the powers that be-be (sorry couldn’t resist) convinced Wes to notch up the gore and this was one of the responses. At any rate, se wakes up, freaks out, and puts a chair up against the door. That’s probably the scariest thing about this movie in that scene right there: kids not feeling safe in their own home. Miscellaneous Left-over Plot Stuff Another day, in class, Paul lectures about Artificial Intelligence. Later, we see Paul, Tom, Sam, and BB playing some basketball. BB tries a reverse over-the-shoulder 3-pointer shot but it goes out of the yard and over beyond the old lady’s fence. Of course, since she’s a designated victim, she has to be a bitch; she takes the ball into the house and smirks at them. BB seems a little bit pissed at this as his 8-bit view of the world turns red. Switch to a lab because it's time for a plot point. Professor and Paul cut up some corpses and brains…oh joy. Paul activates (or animates) a corpse by using advanced microchips and by physically touching the brain. The prof is fascinated as this is some major breakthrough stuff. I’m betting this plot point will be important later. Halloween season, at Paul and Mom’s, Sam shows up at the door with a bloody nose! She insists they just happen sometimes but Paul and Mom know what’s going on. They try to confront her about her father but she evades. She does say, "sometimes I wanna roll a truck over his face but he’s still my father." Prank Goes Horribly Wrong After a Halloween costume party, the gang is strolling by Crazy Old Lady’s. Tom convinces Paul to have BB unlock the padlock so someone can go ring the doorbell. Same runs in and an alarm sounds! Sam screams, the guys go in, and they all hide behind a bush as the Crazy Old Lady comes out with a gun! BB decides to roll in beyond the gate! But no, Crazy Old Lady blasts him into smithereens! BB DIES! NO, BB, NO! Some other day, professor lectures while Paul pouts at home. We get a shot of prayer at dinner…and Sam is over. Sam’s dad is at home drinking beer and watching pro-wrestling, well, because that’s what abusive dads do I guess. Funny that you never hear VKM, the ruthless businessman that he is, ever threaten to sue over the negative portrayal of those who watched pro-wrestling in the 80s. Well never mind…forget them. Wait, no…I used to watch that stuff. Go Undertaker!
Ambulance shows up and Dad plays it off like she fell down the stairs. Never mind the obvious bruise she must have sustained when he punched her. Well, well, the professor is one of her doctors. She’s not quite dead yet after all. They operate but she’s brain dead. They do the "there’s nothing we could do" speech. Paul looks at Sam’s picture and BB’s chip. He convinces Tom to help him get Sam’s body, using Tom’s Dad’s keys, a plot point he conveniently revealed earlier in the film during a paper route conversation. Paul plays the "you got BB killed so you owe me" card to persuade him and it works. Tom is a pushover. The Coffee Scene Next is one of the funnier scenes I suppose. They have coffee with Mom and Paul spikes her drink. In a dramatic wait-till-she-drinks the coffee moment, after a sip, Tom's all nervous, she unexpectedly blurts out, "I make good coffee" which causes poor Tom to choke. ...And she doesn’t even sleep for a long time. Oh and they changed the plug-pulling time at 9PM instead of 10PM! Mom finally passes out and they rush to the hospital. Paul describes a plan to have Tom flip a switch for a diversion. Tom tries to wuss out again. The Magic Operation: BB+ is reborn!
Afterward, Tom and Paul discuss being even and vote to keep the whole deal between themselves. Paul turns BB+ with a remote control (scary thought) about the size of a beta max videotape. She moves around with the Vulcan Death Grip from here on out. Paul has to reteach her motor skills. Police show up at the neighbors looking for Sam’s missing body. Fatal Family Reunion: BB+ vs. Abusive Dad Later in the tool shed, BB+ gets up in the middle of the night and notices Abusive Dad outside. Creepy music starts so we know this guy is in trouble. Paul turns her off with a remote (scarier thought), goes out and gets confronted by his Mom about an expensive sleeping bag being left outside. That seems reasonable I guess. He goes back and BB+ is gone! Uh-oh…I wonder what she’s up to. Guess that remote doesn't work that well.
This scene is rather absurd as she does the Vulcan Death Grip Spin, heading towards Abusive Dad. He just stands there waiting for his death. She grabs him by the head and neck with ease, choking and burning his face into the furnace. She makes some non-robotic faces of aggression as she finally kills Abusive Dad. Albert…I mean, Paul, naturally senses a tremor in the Force that something might be wrong next door. Ok, maybe he notices the excessive smoke from their chimney. Naturally, he breaks in to investigate. He goes right down to the basement to find Sam/BB+ and a dead, smelly body. He upchucks in the corner and then buries the body I guess. Damn, Paul is reduced to burying corpses? Maybe he puts the body behind the wall in tribute to Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Cask of Amontillado" –at any rate, Paul is twisting further down the spiral in his own wagon of madness. B-Ball 1-on-1: BB+ vs. Crazy Old Elvira
With super-strength force, Sam/BB+ passes the ball to the ol’ lady’s head, which gets splattered across the wall just before her animatronic, headless body does a gyrating death spasm, floundering around like a fish or even a chicken without a head. Who else rewound and rewatched that scene? It's really dated as far as effects go but it was good for its time period. This must have been an extended gore scene added for extra spunk. Neo-Freudian Unnecessary Dream Sequence #2 Since this is a Wes Craven movie, we know it’s probably about time for another unnecessary dream sequence…this time, it’s Paul. He’s dreaming about Sam’s Abusive Dad too. More strangely, he dreams about Abusive Dad's abusive zombie head under the covers. Freud would have a hay day with the dreamscapes in this movie. I don't really see the point to this scene other than to demonstrate Paul's further descent into madness. Living Room Brawl: Tom vs. Paul After the bodies begin to pile up, Tom starts freaking out. He faints a couple times, calls and threatens to spill the beans, and that all climaxes at Paul’s house when Tom comes threatening to tell the cops. Paul goes ape shit and punches Tom and they degenerate into a struggle in the family room when conveniently mom’s not around. Suddenly, she comes through the door and notices the aftermath when Tom abruptly informs her that her son is a crazy person, which we all knew from Act 1 pretty much (Tom’s a little slow as well as being a major wussbag). Tom then runs out and Paul follows. BB jumps trhough a second story window(!) and tackles Tom! Paul tries to intervene but BB+ gives him the slap too before running off. The Finale Thud: BB+ vs. Karl and the Coppers
The cops show up and corner her when she gorilla-press-slams Karl into one of the windshields, effectively killing victim #3. Paul tries to get between BB+ and the cops. For a brief moment, Sam’s voice emerges and cries out for Paul. Then she starts with the "Beee Beee" talk again, rushing the cops with the Vulcan death grip for some reason. Naturally, they gun BB+ down as Paul cries. She was no match for a barrage of bullets. The Nonsensical Ending Just when you think it’s all over…and maybe it should be…the show takes us to the morgue. Paul sneaks in, evidently with more reanimation plans. He finds Sam’s corpse and here’s where things get off the wall crazy. Sam’s corpse starts melting (as does the brains of the audience) and morphing into the evil incarnate BB, a kind of 3D Pac-man with razor sharp teeth! It chokes Paul as Sam’s voice says, "come with me Paul" – pan away and we hear a buzzer start followed by some screams. Note: Let it be known that horror movies must compete for the most incoherent ending pissible. How to do a Carrie Rip-off Ending (or alternatively, How to Choke a Bitch):
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Things I Learned From this Movie
The Good
The Bad
The Fugly |
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Alternative
Perspectives of Deadly Friend
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Last Modified: 12/2008
Authors: Clockworkcanary, Scarboroughchic, & Zombies_Ate_My_Neighbor