Barney Gone Off The Rails: My Film Review of “Buddy” (2026)
Watched and reviewing at the urgent request of the titular unicorn himself (I promise you, Buddy, it’s a positive one).
The year 2026 has become a defining one for indie horror. First, audiences were reeled-in to Gen Z’s own interpretation of the consequences of wish-making in Obsession. Then, we saw a popular internet phenomenon come to life in Backrooms. And now, straight from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Too Many Cooks creator Casper Kelly officially unleashes his feature-length directorial debut: Buddy, which can be considered to be the most bizarre film of the year, and that it is actually a compliment. What makes it actually work is its overall sense of imagination to take the rising concept of “mascot horror” and inject in real world-building from scratch with a dose of meta-commentary on the dark realities of what happened on the sets of various 80s and 90s children’s TV shows.
In the film, we are introduced to the world of It’s Buddy, a fictional TV show centered around the titular magical orange unicorn who is literally inspired by none other than Barney the Dinosaur (Keegan Michael-Key’s voice work is completely spot-on, and a big shout-out to the in-suit performer Sergey Zhuravsky), and his co-stars including co-host Betty Bunny (Jimmica Collins), a Mailman, a Nurse, multiple anthropomorphic objects (Mr. Mailbox, Couchy, Clocky and Charlie the Train, all voiced convincingly by Eric Bauza, Rachel Appelbaum and Devon Hawkes Ludlow respectively) and line-up of child actors, including Freddy (Delaney Quinn in what may be her breakout role), Oliver (Tristan Broders, also destined to be a future likable star) and Wade (Caleb Williams). On the show, they do things we of course would come to expect: sing songs (and these musical number elements become very important later in the plot), learn valuable life lessons (like cleaning and “learning to be brave”) and end each episode in a “I love you, you love me, we are one big family…”-style group hug that magically restarts every episode. One day, one of the kids, Josh (Luke Speakman), refuses to participate in these activities and disappears, setting off the cracks that begin to show in this perfect-looking world the moment he is replaced by Hannah (Madison Skyy Polan). The kids start to realize their unicorn host is becoming deranged and that he is truly evil on the inside despite a 100% intact positive personality and must now escape before they become his next victims. What happens onward is a roller-coaster of switching visual styles, secrets being revealed, bloody carnage and a chaotic and twisty finale that takes everything the film is parodying to another level that leaves things open to interpretation (won’t spoil it here). A significant subplot involves Grace (Cristin Milioti), a mother with a family in the real world who gets drawn into Buddy’s world as she realizes she may have a missing daughter.
The film is literally filled with not just parody references to Barney & Friends, Teletubbies, Thomas & Friends, Blue’s Clues, Howdy Doody and Dora the Explorer, but also literal thematic and visual homages to probably the most influential film of all time: The Wizard of Oz (1939) - all seen clearly with the Magic Dancing Shoes that Buddy forces Josh to dance in resembling the Ruby Slippers, the “Diamond City” the kids attempt to escape to being based on Emerald City, and the character of Freddy being a blend of Selena Gomez’s character from Barneywith the facial expressions and likeness of Judy Garland’s Dorothy Gale. There’s even another surprise nod to another famous movie monster during the climax who I won’t name, but to keep in with the 90s aesthetic of the TV show’s world, they don’t make it too frightening, which does work.
In conclusion, Buddy the Unicorn is destined to become a new horror icon for his unpredictability and disturbing interior, while the film itself will indeed become a cult classic that will spark thought-provoking conversations about its subject matter, themes and metaphors.
