Deadly Friend(1986)
1986 · Wes Craven · 91 min
When tragedy strikes his remarkable robot and the beautiful girl next door, lonely teenage genius Paul tries to save them by pushing technology beyond its known limits into a terrifying new realm.
Horror · Science Fiction
6.2274 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
3/5
Gore
2/5
Stays with you
How Deadly Friend scares
Deadly Friend spends a lot of its runtime as a teen sci-fi drama before turning into something much stranger and more violent, so the pace is uneven rather than steadily tense. The scares lean on sudden bursts of shocking, over-the-top violence rather than slow dread or constant jolts. It's more about body horror and a twisted revenge angle than anything supernatural, since the threat here comes from technology and science gone wrong. Watch it for camp value and one infamous shock moment rather than for genuine lingering fear.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Deadly Friend rates psychological 2/5, visceral 4/5, gore 3/5, lingering effect 2/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 2 of 5
- Visceral: 4 of 5
- Gore: 3 of 5
- Lingering: 2 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 45 of 100 — balanced
Supernatural vs Real-world: 25 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 35 of 100 — leans Fun-scary
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, teen-drama setup that only occasionally shows its horror teeth before erupting into a couple of shocking bursts near the end.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 3.
How scary is Deadly Friend?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, Deadly Friend rates 3/5 — solidly scary, balancing creeping dread with well-placed shocks. It attacks the body more than the mind — physical, in-your-face horror. Expect it to be moderately gory and fun-first. Some of it will follow you to bed, but it lets go within a day or so.
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