Deadly Friend

Based on Diana Henstell’s novel “Friend”, Wes Craven directs a dignified teen horror film that recasts the Frankenstein myth in a context that serves as a reflection on the generation gap.

As is often the case in the director’s films, the adult world is a violent one, one that’s suffocating and lacks understanding (beyond the cliched dim-witted policemen, we’re shown a degenerate father and an old harridan with a loaded shotgun and a hair trigger). Consequently, young Paul has no choice but to shoulder the entire weight of the tragedy that’s befallen his existence, gradually engaging in ever more extreme and dangerous undertakings.

Although a minor entry in Craven’s filmography, “Deadly Friend” remains a decent, even interesting film. After the first reel which is primarily in a comic vein, the plot takes on dramatic elements, eventually reaching a climax that’s not easy to take (we’ll mercifully overlook the final plot twist dictated by the typical shameless producers, the ones also responsible for the needless references to 1984’s “Nightmare on Elm Street“).

Comparable to Brian Yuzna’s “Return of the Living Dead III” (1993).