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2 nights so far, and 8 people in the crowd.

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Buddy

2026 1h 35m HorrorComedyFantasy

Directed by: Casper Kelly
Starring: Keegan-Michael Key, Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn

A magical, singing orange unicorn holds his cast hostage in a surreal TV-show dimension, as he becomes more and more demented.

Our rating: 4.0 from 1 rating
Box office: $27M

Deep Dive

1 of 14

It's a killer-Barney horror comedy: a cuddly orange unicorn who hosts a '90s kids' show turns murderous, directed by Casper Kelly, the creator of the viral Adult Swim short "Too Many Cooks."
Production The eyes that made Buddy look crazy A couple of days before shooting, the puppet team fitted Buddy with small pupils surrounded by white, which made him look unhinged. The puppeteers reasoned that he was going to act crazy. Kelly refused and insisted Buddy look warm and cuddly, so the audience would project the menace onto his face once he turned. Big, comforting pupils won out, though there was talk of animatronic eyebrows like those in Five Nights at Freddy's.
Production The mirror scene that was a bridge too far Kelly has said he cut a scene in which Buddy, in a bathroom, talks to a mirror that is itself a puppet. When he doesn't like the mirror's answer, he pops its eyes out and turns it around. Per the SlashFilm interview, producers felt it went too far, and it was removed. Kelly also said some violence was shot and then left out, notably anything involving animals.
Legend A slasher unicorn sold as a lost '90s TV star Rather than a conventional campaign, the distributors introduced Buddy as if he were a forgotten children's TV icon. Three teasers, a text-and-voicemail fan club and an in-character social account kept the plot hidden. IndieWire credits this online push for the film beating projections by about double on its opening weekend.
Buddy is Casper Kelly's first feature as director. Kelly is also known for the Adult Swim Yule Log films and the "Cheddar Goblin" ad sequence in Mandy. He says the "Too Many Cooks" fame is what got producer J.D. Lifshitz's BoulderLight (Barbarian, Friendship, Weapons) to meet him about the project.
The unicorn is a physical suit. To let the suit performer concentrate on acting, one off-camera voice actor spoke the lines and another person worked the mouth by remote control. Keegan-Michael Key is credited as Buddy's voice.
Kelly's rule for the look was not to make it satirical and to play it as straight as possible. The film aims to resemble a CRT cable show. Cinematographer Zach Kuperstein used a lens attachment that puts the image on a smaller part of the sensor, making it more pixelated.
Several voices in the show-within-the-film come from puppeteers on the crew. Jimmica Collins, a set puppeteer, voices Betty Bunny, and lead puppet designer Devon Hawkes Ludlow voices Charlie the Train.
Kelly says there was little duplicate gear, with few spare costumes or puppets. Once a wall, suit or puppet was covered in blood it was hard to reset, so the shoot had to be ordered around the carnage. He has said the film "probably should have had quadruple the budget."
Most of the film was shot on soundstages in the Cleveland area, reportedly over about 25 shoot days from July to late August 2025. Kelly, based in Atlanta, joked that he liked Cleveland because it has hardly any traffic.
Kelly said the film needed an intimacy coordinator for the first time, for scenes between a suit performer and a regular actor. He also found the scenes with the Willie marionette hard because strings give little control.
At the Sundance Midnight premiere, Kelly described the film as "Barney horror." Critics noted that the set design owes as much to Pee-wee's Playhouse. Kelly has said he wanted to fit in Teletubbies and Sid and Marty Krofft-style TV but couldn't find room.
It was a record-setting indie release. It opened to about $5.3–5.4M on 1,258 screens, roughly double its projections. It was Saban Films' biggest opening ever and Roadside Attractions' second-biggest, behind I Can Only Imagine. It later became the highest-grossing Sundance 2026 acquisition and the highest-grossing Saban Films release.
The marketing treated Buddy as a real forgotten '90s TV star. There was a fan club where you could text the character or get voicemails from him. Buddy also replied to brands such as Care Bears online. The first teaser reportedly got 20 million views, and the character built about 500,000 social followers.
It's a killer-Barney horror comedy: a cuddly orange unicorn who hosts a '90s kids' show turns murderous, directed by Casper Kelly, the creator of the viral Adult Swim short "Too Many Cooks."
Production The eyes that made Buddy look crazy A couple of days before shooting, the puppet team fitted Buddy with small pupils surrounded by white, which made him look unhinged. The puppeteers reasoned that he was going to act crazy. Kelly refused and insisted Buddy look warm and cuddly, so the audience would project the menace onto his face once he turned. Big, comforting pupils won out, though there was talk of animatronic eyebrows like those in Five Nights at Freddy's.
Production The mirror scene that was a bridge too far Kelly has said he cut a scene in which Buddy, in a bathroom, talks to a mirror that is itself a puppet. When he doesn't like the mirror's answer, he pops its eyes out and turns it around. Per the SlashFilm interview, producers felt it went too far, and it was removed. Kelly also said some violence was shot and then left out, notably anything involving animals.
Legend A slasher unicorn sold as a lost '90s TV star Rather than a conventional campaign, the distributors introduced Buddy as if he were a forgotten children's TV icon. Three teasers, a text-and-voicemail fan club and an in-character social account kept the plot hidden. IndieWire credits this online push for the film beating projections by about double on its opening weekend.
Buddy is Casper Kelly's first feature as director. Kelly is also known for the Adult Swim Yule Log films and the "Cheddar Goblin" ad sequence in Mandy. He says the "Too Many Cooks" fame is what got producer J.D. Lifshitz's BoulderLight (Barbarian, Friendship, Weapons) to meet him about the project.
The unicorn is a physical suit. To let the suit performer concentrate on acting, one off-camera voice actor spoke the lines and another person worked the mouth by remote control. Keegan-Michael Key is credited as Buddy's voice.
Kelly's rule for the look was not to make it satirical and to play it as straight as possible. The film aims to resemble a CRT cable show. Cinematographer Zach Kuperstein used a lens attachment that puts the image on a smaller part of the sensor, making it more pixelated.
Several voices in the show-within-the-film come from puppeteers on the crew. Jimmica Collins, a set puppeteer, voices Betty Bunny, and lead puppet designer Devon Hawkes Ludlow voices Charlie the Train.
Kelly says there was little duplicate gear, with few spare costumes or puppets. Once a wall, suit or puppet was covered in blood it was hard to reset, so the shoot had to be ordered around the carnage. He has said the film "probably should have had quadruple the budget."
Most of the film was shot on soundstages in the Cleveland area, reportedly over about 25 shoot days from July to late August 2025. Kelly, based in Atlanta, joked that he liked Cleveland because it has hardly any traffic.
Kelly said the film needed an intimacy coordinator for the first time, for scenes between a suit performer and a regular actor. He also found the scenes with the Willie marionette hard because strings give little control.
At the Sundance Midnight premiere, Kelly described the film as "Barney horror." Critics noted that the set design owes as much to Pee-wee's Playhouse. Kelly has said he wanted to fit in Teletubbies and Sid and Marty Krofft-style TV but couldn't find room.
It was a record-setting indie release. It opened to about $5.3–5.4M on 1,258 screens, roughly double its projections. It was Saban Films' biggest opening ever and Roadside Attractions' second-biggest, behind I Can Only Imagine. It later became the highest-grossing Sundance 2026 acquisition and the highest-grossing Saban Films release.
The marketing treated Buddy as a real forgotten '90s TV star. There was a fan club where you could text the character or get voicemails from him. Buddy also replied to brands such as Care Bears online. The first teaser reportedly got 20 million views, and the character built about 500,000 social followers.

7 people watched

Steve
Haley
Felicia
Jesse
Nick
Ryan
Owen

What we thought

Jesse On Letterboxd

This was hilarious and really well executed with lots of cool practical stuff; the movie that Willy's Wonderland should have been. All of the kids were great actors, too.

Past nights

Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026 8 people 0.5

The regulars

1 Felicia 2 nights 2 in a row
Letterboxd profile
- Buddy Oct 13, 2026
- Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026
1 Haley 2 nights 2 in a row
- Buddy Oct 13, 2026
- Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026
1 Jesse 2 nights 2 in a row
Letterboxd profile
- Buddy Oct 13, 2026
- Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026
1 Nick 2 nights 2 in a row
- Buddy Oct 13, 2026
- Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026
1 Owen 2 nights 2 in a row
- Buddy Oct 13, 2026
- Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026
1 Ryan 2 nights 2 in a row
Letterboxd profile
- Buddy Oct 13, 2026
- Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026
1 Steve 2 nights 2 in a row
Letterboxd profile
- Buddy Oct 13, 2026
- Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026
8 Beff 1 night
Letterboxd profile
- Bordello of Blood Oct 7, 2026