Buddy

I saw this film in a theater, and two women were sitting next to me. During the credits, one asked the other, with a hopeful tone, what she thought of the movie. The recipient of the question answered it, as if somewhat amazed that her response wouldn’t be obvious: “I don’t like films about children getting killed.” I had to bite my tongue and keep my thoughts to myself, but what I wanted to say was, “Then why did you come to see Buddy?”

Buddy is the theatrical debut of co-writer/director Casper Kelly, who was previously responsible for the viral video masterpiece Too Many Cooks in 2014 and the extremely clever tv horror film Adult Swim Yule Log from 2022, which pretends to be holiday Yule log programming until… it isn’t. In both projects, Kelly took something seemingly innocuous (such as the opening credits to a fictional 80s sitcom) and twisted them into something both hilarious and horrific. Buddy is a gory R-rated movie, about kids getting terrorized by a Barney-esque host on a generic children’s show – so I guess keep that in mind before you buy a ticket if that would be an unwelcome surprise? For the rest of us, however, kick back and enjoy the darkly goofy vibe.

Freddy (Delaney Quinn) is one of several children featured on a 1999 kids tv series called It’s Buddy! Buddy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key) is a large fuzzy orange unicorn who lives in a home filled with living objects such as Strappy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) the backpack. He leads the kids in songs, dances and moral lessons, but if anybody thwarts or resists him, they get “replaced” on the show. Freddy and her friends begin to realize they’re in danger and plot an escape. Elsewhere, suburban mom Grace (Cristin Milioti) starts questioning her reality and starts seeing the Buddy show in visions.

Quinn does a good job, seeming like a frightened child who is also able to attempt to escape the nightmare she’s trapped in. I didn’t recognize Key’s voice, which is a testament to his performance. He’s created a memorable character here, a villain who refuses to recognize himself as one, a bully who tells the kids they have to “be scared to be brave.” Oswalt has a relatively small role but still invests it with care. Milioti always improves any project she’s in, and my only complaint is that I wish there had been even more of her character in the story.

Kelly’s direction manages to capture the look and feel of children’s television (with a big visual nod to Pee-Wee’s Playhouse) and then subvert it, but I was a little surprised (having seen his previous work) that he didn’t go even further with the strangeness. There is an evocative evening shot that seems like a tribute to The Night of the Hunter that I appreciated. Shawna-Nova Foley’s costumes are terrific, especially of the wounded Buddy, his inner monstrousness now revealed on his exterior.

Kelly and co-writer Jamie King have created an intriguing setting for their story, a sort of children’s tv zone that Buddy controls, but they never delve too deeply into how that works or why the situation exists. There are tantalizing hints but no definitive facts, which is fine but also leaves room for further stories. Buddy wrapping things up whenever he chooses by saying, “That’s all the time we have,” adeptly turns an innocent statement of time into something more sinister.

If you’re up for something different and aren’t too offended by the killing of fictional tots, the big orange unicorn Buddy might be your new pal. Remember, you have to be scared to be brave.