***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Paul (Matthew Laborteaux) is a 15-year-old genius who moves into a new neigborhood with his mother and BB, his yellow robot. He falls in love with Samantha (Kristy Swanson), a kind-hearted girl who lives next door. Unfortunately, Sam has a very difficult home life, and she is literally scared to death of her abusive father. One night, Sam's father, in a drunken rage, knocks her down a flight of stairs, killing her. Distraught over the death of his best friend, Paul decides to try to bring her back to life by implanting BB's computer chip into his brain. It works, but Sam is now a murderous zombie who decides to get revenge against those who treated her badly.
I enjoyed watching "Deadly Friend" mainly because of Kristy Swanson: not only is she beautiful, but she gives a sensitive and likeable performance as Sam. Even though I knew Sam's death was important to the film's plot, I felt sad because I really liked the character and felt that she in no way deserved to have a deadbeat for a father. And Laborteaux gives a decent performance as Paul: I wanted things to go well for him, and when he finds out about Sam's death (just as romance was about to blossom between the two), I could understand his feelings of pain and sorrow.
When Sam is revived and becomes a killer, "Deadly Friend" turns into a standard low-budget horror film, with all the usual shocks and gore. However, the scene where Sam decapitates crazy old Elvira Parker (Anne Ramsey) with a basketball (!) is worth a look.
"Deadly Friend" is not the perfect horror movie, but it does contain enough heart and humanity to separate it from the rest of the pack.
I enjoyed watching "Deadly Friend" mainly because of Kristy Swanson: not only is she beautiful, but she gives a sensitive and likeable performance as Sam. Even though I knew Sam's death was important to the film's plot, I felt sad because I really liked the character and felt that she in no way deserved to have a deadbeat for a father. And Laborteaux gives a decent performance as Paul: I wanted things to go well for him, and when he finds out about Sam's death (just as romance was about to blossom between the two), I could understand his feelings of pain and sorrow.
When Sam is revived and becomes a killer, "Deadly Friend" turns into a standard low-budget horror film, with all the usual shocks and gore. However, the scene where Sam decapitates crazy old Elvira Parker (Anne Ramsey) with a basketball (!) is worth a look.
"Deadly Friend" is not the perfect horror movie, but it does contain enough heart and humanity to separate it from the rest of the pack.