Deadly Friend, or, Number Five Is Undead

A recurring, and inadvertent, theme has started to develop from the movies I’ve enjoyed the most this year, and that is: “I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate this if I’d seen it on release.” I’ve seen a lot of stuff that forces me to imagine myself in the 80s or early 90s, with my still-developing understanding of movies, and art in general for that matter, and wondering whether that version of me would have been able to understand how it works. I’m certain, however, that I would not have been able to understand Deadly Friend as a teenager. Because I’m not sure I understand it as an adult. The movie stars Matthew Labyorteaux as a teen (?) genius who’s an expert in robotics and AI, and who’s built a robot friend named BB. He and his mom have moved to a suburban house in a new town, because he’s gotten a full scholarship to a university to study (and occasionally, teach) brain surgery, a subject he’s also an expert in, somehow. He’s made discoveries that even his sponsors were…