Synopsis: A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids’ television show.
Director: Casper Kelly
Stars: Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Topher Grace, Keegan-Michael Key
There are horror movies designed to appeal to everyone, and then there are horror movies that know exactly who their audience is. Buddy falls firmly into the latter category. This is a strange, violent and occasionally hilarious genre film that probably won’t work for everyone, but I suspect horror enthusiasts—particularly those who enjoy midnight movies and horror-comedies willing to get weird—are going to have a very good time with it.
Directed by Casper Kelly, Buddy takes something innocent and familiar and asks a very simple question: what if it became absolutely terrifying?
The film introduces us to It’s Buddy!, a children’s television program that looks like something that could have been produced during the 1990s. Its star is Buddy, a gigantic, colourful unicorn who spends his time entertaining children with songs, dancing and the relentlessly positive energy we associate with children’s programming. Think Barney & Friends, except instead of Barney we have a massive orange unicorn.
And Buddy has some anger issues.
When one of the children, Josh, refuses to participate in Buddy’s dance party, Buddy becomes increasingly upset. Soon Josh disappears and another child, Hannah, mysteriously takes his place. Buddy assures everyone that Josh has simply gone to “Diamond City.”
Yeah. . . sure, he has.
The remaining children begin realizing something is very wrong with their supposedly happy television world. When they attempt to figure out what happened to Josh and eventually escape, Buddy’s cheerful television personality gives way to something significantly more sinister—and extremely violent.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Grace (Cristin Milioti) begins experiencing strange emotions and becomes convinced that something is missing from her life. Eventually, she discovers It’s Buddy! and begins questioning whether the bizarre children’s program could somehow be connected to her family. Before long, the separation between the television world and reality begins to break down.
That premise should tell you immediately whether Buddy is your type of movie.
Casper Kelly, making his feature directorial debut, isn’t interested in making conventional horror. The filmmaking style is one of the movie’s most interesting elements. Kelly and cinematographer Zach Kuperstein recreate the artificial brightness of old children’s television programming and then use that visual language against us.
The colourful sets, puppets, costumes and exaggerated performances initially feel intentionally cheap and cheerful. Then the violence begins.
That contrast is where Buddy works best. Watching something resembling an old children’s show suddenly descend into graphic horror is both ridiculous and unsettling. There is something inherently creepy about seeing characters designed to make children feel safe suddenly become threatening. The film understands that and pushes the concept about as far as it can.
Keegan-Michael Key voices Buddy and does a great job maintaining that unnervingly enthusiastic personality. Even as Buddy becomes increasingly monstrous, there remains something absurdly upbeat about him. Patton Oswalt, Michael Shannon, Topher Grace and Milioti also lend this bizarre production considerably more acting talent than you might expect from the premise.
Is Buddy going to appeal to mainstream audiences? Probably not.
I can easily imagine someone watching this and wondering what on Earth they just sat through. But I can just as easily imagine a packed midnight screening filled with horror fans laughing, cheering and reacting to every increasingly ridiculous kill.
That is the crowd Buddy is made for.
It premiered in the Midnight section at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, and that feels like its natural habitat. This is the type of horror movie that could develop a cult following because it isn’t afraid of being strange.
Buddy isn’t attempting to reinvent horror. Instead, it takes childhood nostalgia, corrupts it and covers it in blood.
For the right audience, that might be exactly the point.
Grade: B
