Der tödliche Freund

A few people have said that it's an undiscovered treasure, more people have stated that it's possibly Wes Craven's worst movie (haven't they seen "Shocker"?); I simply found it to be an OK, average horror offering that merely helps you kill two hours. The first half plays almost like a well-observed drama, but after Swanson has been "resurrected" the film becomes just too silly to work. The "infamous" basketball scene, however, is undeniably great; you'll have to rewind the tape multiple times to get the full effect of it! (**1/2)

A super intelligent teenage whiz revives the love of his life with a chip that used to belong to his robot pal BB. But things don't go all that smoothly as his creation proves to have homicidal tendencies.

Is the film weird? You bet. Is it silly? Yeah, kind of. Is it hokey? Definitely. Is it entertaining? Surprisingly Yes.

The film is probably as close as you can get to family oriented graphic horror. The characters are not only well acted but extremely likable and that takes the film a long way. Matthew L something brings warmth and charm to his role and his relationship with his mom is cute and wholly believable. Kristy Swanson is pure delight as his "girl next door love" and her robotic moves are surprisingly well executed. Like in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven is able to create characters who you actually give a damn about and that's what makes this silly premise actually work.

The film is pretty funny at times and the graphic horror is sure to delight gore hounds. The basketball scene alone is outstanding. For the most part Deadly Friend is more actual fun than suspenseful, although it does have a few well timed shocks.

All in all; A nice effort from Craven. Pretty inventive and overcomes it's weaknesses by being just a plain old fun flick.

Okay, one of my fellow reviewers here on this site described this film in one marvelous – rather sarcastic – sentence. In fact, it's so well stated that I'm going to steal it for my own review. The premise of Deadly Friend, ladies and gentlemen: `Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy creates lethal cyber-Barbie...'. Deadly Friend introduces Paul, an ultra-intelligent adolescent who build a robot that thinks and handles completely for itself. The robot – B.B – is the purest, most advanced piece of technology ever yet it talks with a peppy, blurry voice. Along with his mother, Paul moves to a new town where he continues his Pointdexter studies and falls in love with his sweet neighbor girl (the yummy Kristy Swanson). The girl is terrorized and eventually killed by her monstrous father, a crazy old woman blows B.B to pieces and Paul snaps. He steals her corpse from the hospital and implants her with B.B's artificial brain. Right from the start, this goes wrong as Kristy avenges her death (and how!). Although the undertone of Deadly Friend is downright comic, there are quite a lot gruesome moments and bloody sequences. The plot is highly unoriginal (actually, some sort of lame Frankenstein-variant), the characters are far from believable and the entire production is perfect to claim Wes Craven is an overrated director. Below average, silly film but with – it has to be said – one of the coolest killings ever! The basketball-decapitation alone is worth at least one viewing of this film.

I had heard very mixed things about Deadly Friend so I was a little worried but I think this film is a little misunderstood. Much like Shocker(1989), this film gets a bad rep and I don't get it. We all know that Wes Craven is very hit or miss but I think is one of his hits. At least he's trying something different.

The acting is mediocre but I really like the story as a modern day Frankenstein. The direction and scares, I thought, were fantastic and the basketball scene was awesome.

I challenge all you horror fans to give Deadly Friend a chance. You might just find that you've made a good decision.

Cheesy cool movie that I must say was a surprise. Has one of the coolest kills in horror. Funny at times too.