VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

ElectricWarlock Everyone who knows anything about horror movies knows that Wes Craven is a horror legend because of films like The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream. But I personally feel this is one of Wes Craven's best films and is very underrated. To start with, it has interesting characters that are easy to relate to which I feel is a very important thing for any film to have because if you don't care about the characters, you won't care what happens to them and if the viewers don't care what happens in a film then it is a total failure. Matthew Laborteaux (who people may know as Albert from The Little House on the Prairie) is perfectly cast as Paul Conway, the main character of the film who is a genius and is even friends with an adorable robot named BB. His convincing performance makes the character likable and easy to care about. Kristy Swanson plays the character of Samantha who I personally felt very sorry for because she had to live with an abusive alcoholic of a father. Her character's life is very sad and she doesn't deserve to go through what she has to on a daily basis. Another performance that stood out was Anne Ramsey as Elvira, the grouchy old next door neighbor the audience loves to hate. Her performance was hilarious because she was so mean and her crotchety attitude made for some great and memorable moments.This film starts out as your typical, cheerful '80s movie about the new kid in town and has a light, comedic atmosphere to begin with. But when the film becomes serious, there are very emotional moments that will definitely leave an impact on the viewer's psyche. It touches on issues such as alcoholism, domestic abuse, love, and death. The story is very creative. It is a love story as well as a horror film and to me it doesn't feel like any other film I've ever seen. There is one death scene that most audiences remember this film for. If you haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you, but if you have, you know exactly what scene I'm referring to. The death sequence came out of nowhere and was immensely shocking. Overall, this was a well written, well acted film with interesting characters. The only flaw I noticed with the film is the ending. Again, I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't seen the film but it is not the way I would've ended the film whatsoever. But other than that, the film is perfect and one of my absolute favorites of all time. If you haven't seen this film yet, you absolutely should because it is a true, underrated classic.

Woodyanders Precocious electronics whiz kid Paul Conway (a solid and likable performance by Matthew Laborteaux) brings his sweet girlfriend Samantha Pringle (ably played with bubbly charm by the lovely Kristy Swanson) back to life by placing a robot computer chip in her brain after she's killed by her abusive alcoholic father Harry (an effectively creepy turn by Richard Marcus). However, Samantha proceeds to exact a brutal revenge on everyone who's wronged her in any way. Director Wes Craven, working from an offbeat and thoughtful script by Bruce Joel Ruben, relates the quirky and entertaining "Frankenstein" variant story at a steady pace, grounds the fantastic premise in a plausible suburban reality, brings a real warmth to the opening third with the kids and Paul's adorable robot creation Bee Bee, treats the potentially laughable plot with admirable seriousness and sensitivity (the doomed romance between Paul and Samantha proves to be unexpectedly touching and leads to a heart-breaking tragic conclusion), and, naturally, delivers a few jolting nightmare sequences and several inspired moments of wild splatter (the infamous basketball decapitation rates as the definite outrageously gruesome highlight). The sincere acting from the capable cast helps a lot: Michael Sharrett as Paul's wimpy reluctant friend Tom and Anne Twomey as Paul's concerned mother Jeannie register well in their roles while Anne Ramsey has a terrifically nasty ball with the juicy part of mean and paranoid shotgun-toting old bat Elvira Parker. Moreover, Swanson deserves extra props for her remarkably expressive work as Samantha after she's revived as a super strong and murderous automaton. Charles Bernstein's excellent atmospheric score hits the shivery spot. Philip M. Lathrop's slick cinematography gives the picture a neat glossy look. Only the ridiculous surprise bummer ending falls markedly short of the mark. A cool little flick.

preppy-3 Stupid movie. It's about a teenage genius Paul (Matthew Laborteaux) who falls in love with sweet Sam (Kristy Swanson). He also has a cute lovable robot he invented called BB. No, I'm not kidding. Sam accidentally dies and he steals her body from the hospital (just like real life huh?) and brings her back to life (kind of) by inserting a robot brain in HER brain. No, I'm not kidding. Unfortunately she has this pesky little habit of roaming about and killing people. This all leads to a bewildering and dumb (even for this film) finale that will have you either laughing or rolling your eyes (or both).Sheesh! Wes Craven did THIS??? I knew this was going to be bad when they introduce, right off the bat, an "adorable" robot called BB. Is this supposed to be a horror film or a Disney film? The plot is, to put it mildly, stupid and it fails completely as a horror film. It isn't scary and the murders are more stupid than horrifying. Would you believe someone is beheaded by a BASKETBALL???? The logic in here is bewildering. Sam is bought back to life--but why does she suddenly have super strength like the Hulk? And why exactly does Paul bring her back to life? For what reason? Those are just the beginning of the glaring lapses in logic here. Aside from everything else this is pretty dull stuff. And wait till you hear the end title music which uses "BB" in it again and again and AGAIN! To make it worse Laborteaux is a very annoying actor. It's easy to see why he never hit it big. The only good acting is by Swanson (LOVE how she acts like the robot when she comes back to life), Michael Sharrett (very funny playing Tom) and Anne Ramsey having a whale of a time. But this is a boring and stupid film that is best left forgotten. Avoid.

Christopher T. Chase Okay, so NOBODY "makes that basket" every time, even an old pro like Wes Craven. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET were already on his resume, but after DEADLY BLESSING, maybe he should've skipped any more films with the word "Deadly" in the title. DEADLY FRIEND is kind of a goofy ABC-After-School-Special-meets-John-Hughes kind of movie, if you filtered it through SHORT CIRCUIT...by way of WESTWORLD.Brainy geek Paul Conway (Matthew Laborteaux, all grown up from hanging out on the prairie with Laura Ingalls Wilder) is the "new kid on the block," with very few friends except for fellow geek Tom Toomey (Michael Sharrett) and the intelligent robot he's built in his spare time, affectionately known as "B.B."That soon changes when he meets the blond beauty next door, Samantha Pringle (Kristy "I was Buffy FIRST!" Swanson), who has eyes for Paul, and bruises from her abusive stepdad. Uh-oh...do I smell trouble?Well, that and tragedy both, when Paul loses his two best friends almost simultaneously. B.B. gets taken out by the wicked old "Cee U Next Tuesday" next door, a real piece of work named Elvira Parker, (THE GOONIES' favorite villainess Anne Ramsey in one of her last movie roles) and then in a drunken fit of rage, Samantha's old man decides to off her by tossing her down a flight of steps. Is Paul going to let this slide? HELL, NO! B.B.'s brain still works and Samantha's body's still intact...but our young hero is about to find out the same thing that Baron Viktor Von Frankenstein did...the cost of living can be a real bitch...especially when you're talking about the LIVING DEAD!You have to be in the right frame of mind to be entertained by this movie. There's plenty of eye-rolling, forehead-smacking moments that will make you want to shoot yourself rather than watch another minute, so consider this as your warning. If you find you're groaning even in the first five minutes, be sure you rented something else to make up for it...or this will be the longest ninety minutes of your life.Other than that, there is one improbable gore effect that's still cool, and served as unintentional comedy relief for the audience I watched this with. It might make the whole movie worth watching for you, but that I can't say. Only you can make that call.As for me, I liked Kristy in this a lot more than in BUFFY. That definitely helped.