Deadly Friend

Deadly Friend centres on Paul, a teenage genius who has recently moved to a new town with his mother. He studies the human brain at a local college and has built a robot, BB, which he treats as a companion and trains to think and act like a person. Paul becomes close to Samantha, the girl who lives nearby, but her violent father leaves her badly injured. Refusing to accept her death, Paul uses the technology behind BB in an attempt to bring her back, with results that go far beyond what he intended.

Wes Craven directed the film, the ninth of the twenty-five features listed in his filmography, following The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 and followed by Casebusters. Bruce Joel Rubin wrote the screenplay, and Robert M. Sherman produced it. Matthew Labyorteaux plays Paul, with Kristy Swanson as Samantha, Michael Sharrett as Tom, Anne Twomey as Jeannie, Anne Ramsey as Elvira and Richard Marcus as Harry.

Released in October 1986, the film runs 91 minutes and mixes horror, romance and science fiction. It took about 9 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 5.6 out of 10 from roughly 9,700 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.2 from 274 votes. A critics' score of 3.7 from 35 reviews sits below both audience figures, indicating a warmer response from viewers than from reviewers.