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(aka "Amie mortelle" )
directed by Wes Craven
USA 1986
Teen genius Paul (Matthew Laborteaux) has created a robot pal B.B. and moves to town with his mother to take classes at the local university. He immediately falls for next door neighbor Samantha (Kristy Swanson). When B.B. is shot by paranoid neighbor Elvira (Anne Ramsey who played many a "grumpy old woman" in memorable eighties films like THROW MAMA FROM THE TRAIN and THE GOONIES) and Samantha ends up brain dead in the hospital thanks to her abusive father (Richard Marcus), Paul and paperboy Tom (Michael Sharrett) steal her body and Paul transplants B.B.'s robot brain into Samantha's body. The new Samantha/B.B. hybrid, however, proves not to be the girl of Paul's dreams as she starts taking out the people who did her and B.B. wrong in gruesome ways. A memorable video cover from the eighties, DEADLY FRIEND the movie proves to be a mixed bag. It is an uneasy mix of PG cuteness (the robot standing up to a group of toughs bullying Paul and Tom, playing basketball with the kids, sneaks into the shotgun-toting neighbors yard to get the basketball back, Tom's squeamishness) and R-rated gore (exploding heads, burnt corpses, and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET-esque nightmares), abusive father, and gun-happy police. Performances are mostly good although Swanson's robot is more laughable than scary and Craven's direction only comes to life in a few bits (the gore scenes and the creepy bit where Paul first discovers Sam/B.B. hatefully watching her abusive father through the garage window). Worth seeking out as a piece of eighties schlock rather than as a scary flick. |
Poster
Theatrical Release: 10 October 1986 (USA)
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DVD Review: Warner Home Video (Twisted Terror Collection - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC
Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!
DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: |
Also available in the Twisted Terror Collection (Deadly Friend / Dr. Giggles / Eyes of a Stranger / From Beyond the Grave / The Hand / Someone's Watching Me - see REVIEWS and individual purchase links directly below.) | ||
Distribution |
Warner Home Video Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC |
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Runtime | 1:30:18 | |
Video |
1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate |
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Audio | English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono | |
Subtitles | English, French, Spanish, none | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video
Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 24 |
Comments |
The anamorphic, progressive, single-layer picture probably looks as good as it was meant to with bold colors and some grain and the mono English audio is strong (Charles Bernstein's score comes through nicely while B.B.'s dialogue was probably always meant to be unintelligible). The only extras is a somewhat bland theatrical trailer that is capped by an effective closing image (reproduced on the posters).
Like Warner's "Twisted Terror Collection" disc of EYES OF A STRANGER, their DVD of DEADLY FRIEND carries an R-rating on the box but in fact contains some gory moments that snipped out of the original theatrical release (notably the gruesome death of a character played by Anne Ramsey). |
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DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: |
Also available in the Twisted Terror Collection (Deadly Friend / Dr. Giggles / Eyes of a Stranger / From Beyond the Grave / The Hand / Someone's Watching Me - see REVIEWS and individual purchase links directly below.) | ||
Distribution |
Warner Home Video Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC |
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