Deadly Friend

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Deadly Friend is a film released in 1986 directed by Wes Craven. Teen Genius college professor Paul moves into a new neighborhood with his mom and his sentient robot B.B. and soon meets Girl Next Door Samantha (Kristy Swanson) and her abusive father. Things start out great and the kids have a good time, but it's not long before a series of tragedies occur: B.B. is destroyed by the paranoid elderly neighbor lady after they pull a prank on her; Samantha is killed by her father in a drunken rage; Paul decides to bring Samantha back to life by use of a brain transplant using B.B.'s computer chip brain, but the transplant makes her more robot than human and things go downhill from there.

Tropes used in Deadly Friend include:
  • Accidental Murder: Paul and Tom worried they did this to Paul's mother after they drugged her coffee to steal her van keys. It seems at first Paul accidentally killed her through overdose. However after desperately trying to wake her, she wakes up with nothing more than a bad case of drowsiness.
  • Abusive Parents: Sam's dad is of the physical sort and, according to her dream, he may also have sexually abused her.
  • All Just a Dream: Some people's interpretation of the crazy ending.
  • Asshole Victim: Whether you like the movie or hate it, everyone can agree that Elvira, Harry and Carl deserve Sam's wrath.
  • Berserk Button: B.B. is usually the friendly, smart and curious type. So long as you don't harm Paul or anyone it considers it's friend. When Paul puts B.B.'s chip into Sam's brain, she inherits this. It nearly killed a carjacker for breaking into Jeannie's van. Her first victim was her abusive father, whom B.B. suspected of said abuse, just by looking at her bruises. She kills Elvira for stealing Paul's basketball and shooting B.B. When B.B. first encounters a bike gang, it nearly breaks the leader Carl's testicles for hurting Paul. Tom wasn't safe from B.B./Sam's wrath either. After a crisis of conscience, Tom vows to tell the police what Paul did. They get into a fight and B.B./Sam who was stored in the attic, jumps through the window and brutalizes Tom. Had Paul not stop her, she would have killed him.
  • Came Back Wrong / Cybernetics Eat Your Soul
  • Complete Monster: Sam's dad.
  • Disappeared Dad: Paul's father is absent without any explanation.
  • Dying as Yourself: Sam manages to regain her mind near the end of the movie. However it gets cut short after she gets shot by a cop who thought she was gonna attack Paul.
  • Executive Meddling: Reportedly a victim of it; Some of the gorier moments were added in late into the film's production by executives to make the film scarier.
  • Girl Next Door: Sam.
  • Killer Robot: B.B. was already starting to show homicidal impulses before his brain was inserted into Sam's.
  • Made of Plasticine
  • Missing Mom: Sam's mother, and according to Sam's dream her father might have murdered her.
  • My God What Have I Done?: Sam/B.B.'s reaction when she almost strangled Paul for slapping her after she attacks Tom.
  • Overprotective Dad: Sam's is of the more deranged sort.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Had Paul realize that BB was in control of Sam's mind and body, he probably would have been able to help them better.
  • Robot Buddy: B.B.
  • Robot Girl: Sam after the transplant.
  • Super Strength: One of the side effects of Sam having a robotic brain.
  • Take Our Word for It: Played With. When Paul explains his plan to save Samantha from brain death. We don't hear exactly what Paul says and the scene cuts to the outside of Tom's house with Tom shouting at him. Subverted as we see exactly what Paul has planned, by transferring B.B.'s chip into Samantha's brain, but we don't see it until after the plan is enacted.

Tom: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!!?

  • Taking You with Me: When Paul tries to again resurrect Sam, she comes back to life and transforms into a monstrous hybrid between her voice and BB's Body. Intent on strangling him to death. Her final words "Come with me Paul." imply she intends to die to in hopes they can be together in death. Then again due to the sloppily put in nightmare sequences, we don't know whether or not this was Paul's last nightmare or it really happend.
  • Teen Genius: Paul.
  • Tragic Monster: BB/Sam. Separate both love Paul very much in their own way, with BB being very protective and Sam being very nice and cordial to both of them. Both of which died through horrible circumstances, with BB destroyed by Elvira and Sam being killed by her abusive father. Once Paul implants BB's processor into Sam's brain, they become two minds trapped in one Body, with BB being the dominant due to Sam's brain damage. With BB's help, the dual minded duo, has enhanced strength, but limited speech save for BB's mumblings. As well as a common goal of revenge against their respective wrongdoers: Elvira and Harry. At one point due to a fight between Paul and Tom, BB/Sam not only brutalizes someone they considered their friend out of protectiveness of Paul, but even come close to killing Paul when he tries to stop them. Things take a turn for the worse, after BB/Sam saves Paul from Carl; she slowly regains control of her mind and body. Appearing confused and scared calling Paul's name out. Only for the Cops to shoot her dead when they mistake her for attacking Paul.