Due to formatting, I decided to post this particular review on my own my own web page. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think:
http://www.geocities.com/clockworkcanary/deadlyfriend.htmlHere is the intro:
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.
Note: Rumor has it that Wes had to deal with constant interference from the studio, board of directors, or the powers that be, whatever the case may be, so it may not be entirely his fault for the ridiculousness of this movie. But overall, it is a fun 80s horror movie and deserves 3 cyber monkeys out of 5 for enjoyment...
Read the rest of the review here:
http://www.geocities.com/clockworkcanary/deadlyfriend.html