Deadly Friend (1986)

After his friend is killed by her abusive father, the new kid in town attempts to save her by implanting robotic microchips into her brain.

Director:

Wes Craven

Writers:

Diana Henstell (novel), Bruce Joel Rubin (screenplay)

Stars:

Matthew Labyorteaux, Kristy Swanson, Michael Sharrett

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Labyorteaux	...	Paul Conway (as Matthew Laborteaux)
Kristy Swanson	...	Samantha Pringle
Michael Sharrett	...	Tom 'Slime' Toomey
Anne Twomey	...	Jeannie Conway
Anne Ramsey	...	Elvira Parker
Richard Marcus	...	Harry Pringle
Russ Marin	...	Dr. Johanson
Lee Paul	...	Sergeant Volchek
Andrew Roperto	...	Carl
Charles Fleischer	...	BB (voice)
Robin Nuyen	...	Thief
Frank Cavestani	...	Angry Resident
Merritt Olsen	...	CAT Scan Technician
William H. Faeth	...	Doctor in Sam's Room (as William H. Faeth M.D.)
Joel Hile	...	Deputy

Storyline

Paul Conway and his mother Jeannie Conway travel to a new town where Paul will join the local university invited by Dr. Johanson. They bring the robot BB that was developed by Paul, who is a genius in robotic. Paul befriends the paperboy Tom Toomey and has a crush on his next door neighbor Samantha Pringle, whose abusive alcoholic father Harry Pringle frequently hurts her. One day, Paul, Sam, Tom and BB are playing basketball and the ball fall in the field of their paranoid grumpy neighbor Elvira Parker that does not give it back to the teenagers. In Halloween, Tom convinces Paul to let BB open the padlock of the entrance to her house. However, there is an alarm system and Elvira blows up BB with her shotgun. Then Harry pushes her daughter down the stairs and the doctors let her brain-dead connected to the life support. However Paul convinces Tom to go to the hospital to rescue Sam and then he implants BB's chip into her brain resurrecting Samantha. But will she come back to life ...

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Plot Keywords:

robot | basketball | 1980s | abusive father | morgue | 

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Taglines:

Grab A Friend before someone in the audience grabs you!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

A.I.

Filming Locations:

Midwest Street, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$8,988,731

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.,Pan Arts,Layton

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the many original titles this movie had while in development was 'Artifficial Intelligence', later shortened to 'A.I.', until the studio settled on 'Deadly Friend'. Many years later, a movie combining both initial original titles would be released, A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). Both films were produced by Warner Bros.

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Goofs

When Samantha lifts the bully up, you can very faintly see the wires holding him up.

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Quotes

[Sam emerges into an evil version of BB and chokes Paul to his death, talking in a evil, whispering voice]
Sam: Paul. Come with me, Paul.
Paul Conway: [screaming] NOOOOOOOO!
[Sam snaps Paul's neck]
Sam: BB.

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Alternate Versions

In an earlier rough cut of the movie, Elvira's death was filmed to be less gorier than in the final cut. Instead of shattering her head with a basketball, Sam smashes Elvira through her front door leaving the upper half of her body hanging outside the door and the lower half still inside. In the scene where Elvira's body is carried out on a gurney it's still visible that door of her house have big hole which was made in original version of her death scene. Dialogue said by Dr. Johanson where he says that her head was smashed all over the room is heard off screen, meaning that it was probably added later when scene was changed. Some promotional material such as original lobby cards show parts of original death scene.

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Connections

Referenced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

User Reviews

An overlooked horror movie from the 80's.

Deadly Friend is not a bad movie. Looks like alot of critics did not like this movie. But why like a movie like scream? Those movies did not make any sense. Deadly friend had some great scenes. The best I would say is when Sam jumps out the window to attack Paul's friend. This movie had some scary moments. I feel it was overlooked by alot of people. Wes Craven makes good horror movies. He did a great job with this movie. It's really worth watching.