Buddy, 2026.
Written and Directed by Casper Kelly.
Starring Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Patton Oswalt, Michael Shannon, Topher Grace, Madison Skyy Polan, and Keegan-Michael Key.
SYNOPSIS:
Inside the colorful world of “It’s Buddy!”, a group of children spend their days singing, dancing, and helping Buddy spread happiness. But when one child refuses to play along, Buddy is not pleased and cracks begin to appear in this seemingly perfect world.
The initial building block for writer/director Casper Kelly’s Buddy appears to have been “what if Barney the Dinosaur (or any such mascot) became violent and murderous when one of the children wasn’t on board with the Kumbaya, early childhood educational 1990s TV show nonsense and actively resisted whatever the episode’s activity, whether it be dancing or singing about bravery or cleaning chores. There is also a deftly handled tonal balance here in that such a subversive idea starts off amusing (even as one of those kids is being dragged off camera to be killed for not wanting to practice for a dance), while steadily and successfully transforming into a legitimate piece of horror that has no interest in putting plot armor around these children. They are in danger, and any one of them can die at any time.
Similar to the filmmaker’s skewering of suburban sitcoms of the same era, Too Many Cooks (a 15-minute viral short that originally aired on Adult Swim, catching fire with popularity among that crowd, yet so obnoxious to this critic that there was trepidation coming into this movie), great lengths have been taken to immerse a viewer in that setting. Unexpected and quite ingenious here, the film begins by gradually setting up the story through a series of 10-minute episodes, coming across as something that would have fit right in on Nickelodeon and PBS while offering flashes of the sinister reality beneath the surface.
Equally concerning is that this is not a set where children are greeted by their parents and sent home after an episode is shot. Instead, Buddy (unrecognizably voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, appropriately comforting, able to switch on a dime to cruelty and menace, with Sergey Zhuravsky performing the movements inside the bodysuit) hugs the children and sings one of those songs about togetherness and friendship, triggering the ending credits to scroll vertically across the screen, which serves not only to begin the next episode but also to reset, including healing Buddy from any inflicted damage. It’s a clever, unique mechanism regarding slasher villains always finding a way to come back to life, per se.
Adding to that faux-aura of safety is the voice presence of Eric Bauza (primarily known for Looney Tunes, among several other cartoon characters) as everything from talking mailboxes to more, while well-known names such as Michael Shannon are also utilized in similar roles, making for inspired casting. Selling the TV show as a haven for children learning, growing, and working together (the children themselves are convincing in both the show and its era) goes a long way toward making the high-concept horror work while lending a greater sense of mystery to what’s happening here.
In what could be considered a question of a creative choice, Buddy temporarily breaks away from that fantasyland to the real world, where a mom (Cristin Milioti) is seeking everything from therapy to psychic mediums, undergoing something of a mental breakdown, feeling that something is not right. Her husband (Topher Grace, in a mostly empty role) insists that she is losing her mind and especially takes umbrage at her behavior around the children. Nevertheless, she is sucked into the show through her TV screen.
Meanwhile, the children have escaped the clubhouse park area, where the color palette shifts to a darker, far less inviting palette, and are wandering through perilous, possibly enchanted woods on the run from Buddy. At one point, they encounter an older man, once a child here, as evidenced by the fact that he has outgrown his clothes and is hiding, never able to find a way out. As for those kids, they are all mostly given the same weight of significance as characters, with Delaney Quinn’s Freddy serving as the true protagonist, determined to find her inner bravery and with some clear connections to the overarching plot (what’s nifty is that you can confirm your own guesses by paying attention to those episodic ending credits).
The downside is that Buddy also drags whenever it leaves not only the fantasyland or the TV show, but the clubhouse area in general. Much of it comes across as a world in the process of being fleshed out, never quite getting there. As for the family drama aspect, there isn’t much of a satisfying payoff there. However, there is also much to admire in the way the film consistently refuses to fall into anything safe or conventional. Even its crowd-pleasing moments are punctuated by gutsy moves that might upset viewers. With a tantalizing concept, Buddy is both an impressive production-design accomplishment and a suspenseful, unique take on creature features.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
