Horror movies were popular this year. From “Obsession,” directed and written by Curry Barker, to the recent release, “Other Mommy,” directed by Rob Savage, there’s been a lot of variety. “Buddy,” directed by Casper Kelly, was my most recent watch.
According to Time, “Buddy” hit theaters after a successful premiere at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Seeing a giant, fluffy orange unicorn host a 1990s-style kids show made me question whether the film would even qualify as horror. The film takes place in a theater set, with the playhouse where Buddy lives.
The opening scene, with a smiling unicorn and a group of kids following the cuddly monster around, immediately made me think of “Barney & Friends” in an unsettling way.
I expected the horror to come later, but that wasn’t the case. When a boy named Josh refuses to dance, Buddy’s solution is to give him dancing shoes to groove in. Josh still doesn’t want to dance, so he’s pulled off screen, where we hear his agony along with the sound of shuffling feet — his punishment for refusing to dance.
The contrast with the real world comes when we meet Grace Gardner, a suburban mother played by Cristin Milioti. She worries she lost one of her children in the past, yet she can’t recall it, as if the memory had been erased. It is revealed that the protagonist, Freddy Gardner, played by Delaney Quinn, is Grace Gardner’s daughter. Freddy becomes fearful of the ways she might have to get to evade Buddy. It is hard to believe that the unicorn on the screen could be evil, right?
The children whisper “don’t say his name yet, don’t say it, not yet,” again and again, to avoid summoning Buddy to their space.
The film plays like a predator story. The fluffy characters kidnap children and make them perform for entertainment and the price of refusing is death. Grace also becomes a victim. When everything goes wrong, she is pulled into Buddy’s world. In a tragic sacrifice, she dies as Buddy transforms into his evil form, a creature that looks much like Godzilla, a large, blocky dinosaur.
“Buddy” is worth watching with a group of friends who are ready for some discomfort.