Swanson and Laborteaux. It was definitely a mainstream, PG film all the way, similar in tone to Real Genius or Short Circuit, but the point was made that Craven could direct something other than double-barreled horror." After principal photography was completed, Craven's original version of the film was screened to a test audience mostly consisting of his fanbase. The response from them was negative, criticizing the lack of violence and gore seen in Craven's other films. Finding that Craven had a large fanbase within the horror genre, Warner Bros.' marketing team insisted that additional scenes of gore and horror be incorporated into the finished film. The executive vice president of Warner Bros. at the time, Mark Canton, had Rubin write six additional gore scenes into his script, each bloodier than the last. Following the negative reactions from test audiences that saw Craven's first cut of the film and wanted a much more grisly product, it was re-edited in post-production and the more graphic deaths and other re-shot scenes were included, making the final film appear tonally jumbled. Furthermore, with the additional gore introduced, the film struggled being granted an R rating with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) instead of an X due to the overt violence. According to Craven, the film was submitted a total of thirteen times before it was passed. Editor Michael Eliot was brought in by Warner Bros. to re-edit the original cut of Deadly Friend. Eliot went on to do the same for two other Warner Bros. films, Out for Justice and Showdown in Little Tokyo. While new scenes were added, others such as more scenes between Paul and Samantha that would have made the film more of a love story as originally intended were deleted for length and pacing reasons. Since re-writes, re-shoots, and post production re-editing heavily changed the original story, Craven and Rubin expressed strong anger and heartbreak at the studio and then virtually disowned the film. Craven was no longer attracted to the story because of Samantha going on a killing spree when she is revived. He was much more interested in exploring the adults around her, all of whom seem to be monsters in human skin. In his own words: "The scares don't come from her, but from the ordinary people, who are actually much more frightening. A father who beats a child is a terrifying figure. That's the