Buddy (2026) review: Casper Kelly's killer unicorn horror comedy is the most unhinged thing in theaters this week, and we are fully on board. Meaghan and Arthur caught Buddy at its international premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, about a month before the wide theatrical release, and walked out of that screening loud about it. Casper Kelly (the Too Many Cooks guy, the Adult Swim Yule Log guy) built a pitch-perfect recreation of a 1990s children's television show called It's Buddy!, then let the giant orange unicorn at the center of it start turning on the kids. That is the setup. What the movie does after that is stranger, funnier, and a lot meaner. Casper Kelly Goes Feature Length with Buddy Casper Kelly made his name on Too Many Cooks, the 2014 Adult Swim short that ate the internet alive. Buddy is his feature directorial debut, co-written with Jamie King. The same obsessions carry over: disposable 80s and 90s family media, hand-built sets, puppetry, and post-production elements treated as real things characters have to survive. It premiered in the Midnight section at Sundance in January 2026, then took its international premiere at Fantasia on August 1 before Roadside Attractions and Saban Films opened it wide. What If Barney Was a Horror Movie The film builds a fake 1990s kids show called It's Buddy! and commits to it completely, down to the theme song, the credits, and the episode reset. Barney & Friends ran fourteen seasons and 268 episodes between 1992 and 2010. That is the shape Kelly is working from, and the recreation is close enough to hurt. Kelly's hook came from a real question: what if one of the kids refuses to follow the script? Five minutes in, we find out. Buddy Cast and the Young Performers Delaney Quinn plays Freddy, the first kid to clock that something is wrong. She is the reason the film works, and she told Kelly she wanted to play a final girl. Cristin Milioti (Emmy winner for The Penguin) plays Grace, a suburban mother running a parallel modern-day storyline. Topher Grace plays her husband Ben. Keegan-Michael Key voices Buddy, Patton Oswalt voices Strappy the sentient backpack, and Michael Shannon voices Charlie the Train and Willie. Every kid in this thing is believable as a child trapped in an impossible situation, which is harder than it sounds. Practical Effects, Puppets, and Production Design The practical effects work is the headline. Buddy takes damage across the runtime, and the costume changes tracking that damage are excellent. The set is period accurate in a way that feels almost aggressive: oversized cartoonish props, matte painted woods, a clubhouse, a treehouse, and the Worry Well. Supporting characters include Mr. Mailbox, Betty Bunny, Charlie the Train, a bluebird, a junior puppeteer designed, and talking flowers. None of it feels out of place. Every lesson arrives as a song, exactly like the shows it is riffing on. Diamond City, Wizard of Oz, and the Lore Buddy tells the kids their missing friend went to Diamond City. The kids come to believe it is a way out. The Wizard of Oz influence is all over the escape, and Kelly has named The Shining as another touchstone. There is a spin-off tease planted in the film, and Kelly talked about wanting to do more if this one connects. Content Warnings and Where to Watch Rated R. Children are in real danger throughout, and the violence is not implied, so know that going in. Runtime is 95 minutes. It plays best loud, in a full room, with people who react. Follow us & Subscribe: SpotifyApple PodcastTikTokInstagramThreadsGrave Tone Horror Podcast Website Background music by: Steve Swisher from the Producer's Chair Podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
