Please Remain Inside the Program

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MOVIE REVIEWS
Buddy
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Genre: Horror, Comedy
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director(s): Casper Kelly
Writer(s): Casper Kelly, Jamie King
Cast: Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Patton Oswalt, Michael Shannon, Topher Grace, Keegan-Michael Key
Where to Watch: in theaters on August 28, 2026

RAVING REVIEW: Casper Kelly has a very specific sense of humor, and BUDDY may be the clearest version of it yet. The director behind TOO MANY COOKS and writer of Nicolas Cage’s feature MANDY takes on the forced cheerfulness of a 90s children’s show. It keeps pushing until the smiles, songs, costumes, and lessons about friendship start looking threatening. Then he pushes considerably further to the breaking point and beyond. What could have been another movie trying to turn childhood nostalgia into horror instead becomes a funny, violent, surprisingly thoughtful story about people raised to follow the rules of a world they never chose.

“It’s Buddy!” appears to be exactly the kind of program kids would have watched without questioning any of it. Buddy is a bright orange unicorn, clearly inspired by the iconic Barney, surrounded by colorful sets, talking objects, songs, and children eager to participate in whatever activity the day requires. Everything works according to the logic of educational television, where problems can be solved through cooperation, and every emotion can eventually become a lesson.

Freddy (Delaney Quinn) starts to recognize that something about this isn’t right. The trouble starts when the participation stops being voluntary. Refusing to dance, sing, or follow Buddy’s instructions doesn’t fit the program, and Buddy isn’t equipped to deal with a child who simply doesn’t want to play along. The cheerfulness remains intact even as the meaning behind it begins to change, allowing Kelly to make phrases about bravery, friendship, and happiness sound increasingly sinister without rewriting the rules of the show.

That commitment to children’s television is one of BUDDY’s most interesting ways of showing the darkness behind this all. The opening doesn’t rush toward gore or spend every opportunity screaming that something bad is about to happen. Kelly lets “It’s Buddy!” function enough that the artificiality becomes uncomfortable on its own. Anyone who spent time with BARNEY & FRIENDS, PEE-WEE’S PLAYHOUSE, or even BLUE’S CLUES or similar programming will recognize parts of this without BUDDY becoming a direct parody of any one show.

The production design does so much of the work. Everything is brighter than it needs to be; all the expressions are exaggerated for an audience, and the performances have that deliberately generic feeling quality adults use when speaking to very young children. Kelly understands how the distance between comforting and creepy can be when an adult watches this all outside the intended context. Buddy doesn’t need to become a monster because the idea that everyone has to be happy at all times is already unsettling.

Keegan-Michael Key’s voice performance makes that contradiction really connect. Buddy can sound reassuring and threatening without changing how he speaks, which allows some of the funniest moments to hit through delivery rather than punchlines. Sergey Zhuravsky’s physical performance inside the Buddy suit completes the effect. There’s something inherently funny about watching a giant orange unicorn attempt to maintain the composure of a children’s host while the situations around him become increasingly inappropriate for children’s television.

Once BUDDY expands beyond its setup, Kelly takes a considerable risk. The movie could easily have remained inside the show for 95 minutes, piling up increasingly absurd variations on the same idea. Instead, the story begins revealing another side involving Grace (Cristin Milioti), a mother struggling with memories and feelings she can’t quite reconcile, alongside her husband Ben (Topher Grace). That initially feels like some sort of interruption because the world inside “It’s Buddy!” is so entertaining, but the separation gradually proves necessary.

Milioti is particularly good at making the stranger things feel credible. Grace isn’t just the adult character tasked with explaining how this all works. Her confusion carries its own sadness, and Milioti offers up enough vulnerability that the movie can even become sincere without abandoning the absurdity surrounding it. Topher Grace works well opposite her because Ben’s concern feels genuine even when he can’t understand what his wife is experiencing.

Delaney Quinn has an equally difficult role on the other side of the story. Freddy has to take the character beyond the intentionally exaggerated “It’s Buddy!” acting style once she begins questioning the world around her. Quinn handles that extremely well, turning what initially seems like part of the joke into someone worth caring about. The younger cast members are asked to play both one-dimensional television personalities and frightened children.

Kelly doesn’t hold back once the violence arrives. BUDDY earns its R rating with gore that frequently becomes part of the joke, but the kills don’t feel like the movie’s only reason for existing. There’s imagination behind the escalation that matches the rules already established. The clash between children’s entertainment and graphic violence is funny in obvious ways. Kelly is more interested in what happens when characters discover that the authority figure teaching them how the world works doesn’t deserve their trust.

The genre has already produced plenty of stories centered on corrupted childhood costumed characters, and another murderous one could have felt like it was late to the party. Kelly instead focuses on the children who have been taught that Buddy is always correct. They’ve learned how to behave, how to respond, and even how to understand danger through information supplied by the same figure they eventually need to escape.

BUDDY becomes increasingly complicated as its different realities and characters begin to connect, and there are moments when the straightforward nightmare within the television show seems more compelling than the explanations surrounding it. Some viewers may prefer the simplicity of the first part to the ideas Kelly introduces later. The movie occasionally risks explaining a world that was already fun when nobody knew exactly how it all worked.

Michael Shannon and Patton Oswalt contribute to the collection of voices and personalities that make the world feel larger than Buddy alone. Kelly continues finding amusing ways to corrupt the harmless objects and characters that populate children’s programming. Some of the funniest things are also among the most disturbing because they preserve the vibes of a television show intended to reassure kids.

The blood, killer unicorn, bright sets, and increasingly ridiculous situations provide exactly the sort of crowd-friendly horror comedy the premise promises. Kelly never settles for just making a version of Barney that’s scary. There’s genuine affection for the television he’s dismantling, which makes the darker parts more effective than just mockery would have been.

Children’s shows tell kids to be kind, listen, follow, and trust the friendly adults teaching them how everything works. Those are usually good lessons. BUDDY finds the nightmare hiding underneath when the person giving those instructions is the one you should have been questioning all along. It manages to explore that idea while remaining strange, hilarious, and far bloodier than anything involving an orange unicorn has any right to be.

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[photo courtesy of ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS, SABAN FILMS]

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