As a horror fan, 2026 has been a year of original storytelling, fresh new talent, and envy worth world building. And now Buddy joins the ranks of other hits of the year like Obsession and Backrooms due to knocking these three parameters out of the park. But it also stands out on its own for tapping into the eeriness of children’s shows, the characters in it, and how we all pretend these shows were normal. That doesn’t mean this movie doesn’t have some blatant problems though.
Buddy is horrifying because it is unnerving. As a ’90s kid, I grew up with shows like It’s Buddy that taught children empathy, understanding, patience, and a lot of other life skills that I still carry with me to this day. So entering this movie felt familiar and almost comforting. But as an adult it also magnified the fact that shows like Barney and Friends, Teletubbies, or even Bananas in Pajamas always were eerie with their dead eyes, unflinching smile, and unnatural interactions with the children or adults in the show.
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At the center of this uncanny valley amalgamation is of course Buddy. This orange unicorn is brought to life by two actors. Sergey Zhuravsky is the actor in the actual suit. And the way he moved added to the unease that the children felt around him but that I also felt as a viewer. Keegan-Michael Key as the voice of Buddy matched perfectly with Zhuravsky movements, often making me laugh as much as I feared him. Because if you were going to write a horror story like this, Buddy would still sound cheerful in the middle of trying to kill you.
The actors playing Buddy aren’t the only ones who I feel like knocked it out of the park when it comes to this horror movie.
Cristin Milioti perfectly delivered on the vulnerability needed to portray the determined, brave, and spiraling Grace. She was matched by Freddy, played by Delaney Quinn, the brave girl who was leading her friends in this escape from the kids television show. And there were some surprisingly fun additions with Topher Grace as husband Ben, Bennie Taylor as Mailman Miles, and Patton Oswald as Strappy.
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On to the world building of it all, I loved how intentional Buddy was with the world that it was building.
I liked that the mechanics as to how Buddy healed himself was tied to the children’s hugs triggering the end of the episode. I also really liked how the world beyond the fence of the park clued us into this going on longer than expected. And we saw that through different characters from a time when It’s Buddy was more of a cowboy show. But we also saw it through the way that every creation feared Buddy. There were layers.
This is where we get into some major spoiler territory so be warned.
There does come a point in Buddy where Freddy gets out of the main TV show level. And what she encounters is a building that reveals how they kidnap the children, the complex technology behind it, and the fact that there are other unicorns. And as someone who loves world building, I like how the movie trusted the viewer to capture these details in the split seconds we had them to form your own theories as to the origins of Buddy and how long this has actually been going on.
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In my mind, there’s room for a sequel. Because there was a lot of intention put into creating this television show for children. And at one point Buddy was on a similar standing with Bobby and Benny thanks to that mural reveal. But Benny is now in a basement workshop looking beat up, tired, and chained. Let’s not forget his creations yelling out “Help! Help! Help!” to the children. All together that tells me that something went wrong along the way. And I want to know where Bobby is too.
Despite how much I enjoyed Buddy, there are some things that didn’t work for me and deserved a second or third look in the writer’s room. For one, I didn’t like that Grace was made to feel crazy by her husband when she realized, even subconsciously, that her child was missing. And then when she entered into the world of It’s Buddy, she did reunite with her daughter. But she also was sexually assaulted by Buddy before she was eventually murdered by him. Basically they made her feel disposable, reduced her to only being a mother, and continued on the same tired trope where if you don’t know what trauma to give a woman then have them be assaulted.
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And then there’s the kids.
Even as a kid I realized that there was intentionality behind the kids or adults that were chosen for shows like Barney and Friends or Sesame Street. They were meant to be reflections of the multicultural nature of our shared reality. So I clocked that the Black characters were treated as if they were disposable in Buddy while having some of the most violent deaths in the movie. And it made me question, once again, who we have in these rooms making the writing decisions but also the editing and producing decisions. But, I’m coming at this from a white Latina perspective and I’ll be looking into what Black horror fans think on this topic specifically.
Ultimately, Buddy is proof that creativity isn’t dead in Hollywood. There are still creatives trying to subvert the shows or experiences that we grew up with while creating enviable world building that could lead to sequels in the same vein as Obsession and Backrooms. But horror still has a lot of work to do when it comes to how they portray women and underrepresented communities that play significant roles within the stories we consume.
Buddy is now playing in theaters.
