Paul (Matthew Laborteaux) is a highly intelligent teenager who has just moved to a new town, where he teaches electronics at school.
He created a robot, Bee-Bee, who follows and serves him.
His neighbor is Samantha (Kristy Swanson) who is very sweet, but with a father who is always drunk and aggressive.
During an argument with her parent Samantha falls down the stairs and dies, but the man manages to pass it off as an accident.
Paul, desperate, attempts to revive his friend by using his technological knowledge...
Wes Craven film based on the novel Friend by Diana Henstell and produced by Warner Bros, follows the 1980s trend about ’humanized“ robots (such as Short Circuit) in horror, in the same year as Supermarket Horror.
In essence, it is a rewriting of the myth of Frankenstein and how feelings can push anyone to cross all ethical and social boundaries.
However, the film makes very little use of the interesting character of Bee-Bee and follows a fairly predictable script.
In the second half, however, the film takes on a bleak, anguish-laden feel, with Swanson's excellent performance and particularly poignant look.
Everything could have been exploited much better, especially in the early part.
Stupid Italian title, beautiful ending.
Review by Zick
