BUDDY is for the die hard horror fan who has seen everything and just wants something unhinged; regardless of story or plot. It is a film that started as a solid concept but had no idea how to stick the landing.
Synopsis: A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids television show. | 1h 35m | Rated R for bloody violence, some drug content and language – all involving children.
Slow-Burn Nostalgia or Nostalgic Bore?
BUDDY starts sluggishly and tests your patience right out of the gate. The first thirty minutes will leave you wondering if an actual plot is going to kick in or if you’re just trapped in a montage of a creepy, vertical-frame, old-school Saturday morning kids’ show.
A Great Setup… That Goes Nowhere
Once the exposition is finally set up, the movie shifts to the real world. Grace (Cristin Milioti) is a mother of two experiencing unsettling psychic visions. Her husband, Ben (Topher Grace), is utterly unhelpful and devoid of compassion. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter much—neither Ben nor the kids have anything meaningful to do with where the story goes next.
Visual Thrills, Narrative Despair
This is where the film delivers on visual horror, only to slide straight into a pit of plotless despair. We learn that the real world and Buddy’s world are parallel dimensions, though the film never bothers to explain how or why. The stakes are clear enough: the kids stuck in Buddy’s realm need to escape before they end up dead, and Grace has to solve her connection to the madness.
Meet the Twisted Unicorn
Then there’s Buddy himself (Suit: Sergey Zhuravsky | Voice: Keegan-Michael Key)—a dark riff on Barney & Friends. He’s a giant orange unicorn who springs to life when children call his name, leading them in cheery songs about sharing. But when the kids don’t return his love, his monstrous dark side emerges. It’s this sinister turn that we all bought a ticket to see, and it yields the film’s most entertaining moments.
All Yap, No Substance
Unfortunately, once “Bad Buddy” makes his debut, the rest of the runtime devolves into tedious filler and endless chatter. Horror fans don’t expect an Oscar-worthy screenplay, but a creepy mascot and a handful of gruesome kills can’t carry an entire feature. Buddy’s lore feels completely half-baked: Is he a supernatural monster? A serial killer? A weirdly specific perv? Pick a card, any card.
Star Power Wasted
The biggest enigma isn’t the lore—it’s how the filmmakers landed this cast. Topher Grace, Keegan-Michael Key, and Cristin Milioti are all far too talented for what’s on the page. Did a promising initial script lure them in before falling apart in post-production? Were key explanation scenes left on the cutting room floor? We’ll never know.
The Verdict: Skip the Cinema
The cop-out ending is a head-shaker that leaves you more frustrated than fulfilled. If the screenwriter didn’t know how to wrap up the story, how are we supposed to make sense of it? While a micro-niche of underground art-house horror fans might champion its weirdness, most viewers will feel cheated. Skip the theater trip and wait for this one to land on a deep discount on digital platforms.
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