Buddy came out earlier this year and took the box office by storm for an independent horror movie. It captivated audiences and made viral waves with the mascot character heading to different Halloween events and movie theaters. The story of Buddy is one of success and of terror. It comes from the creator of Too Many Cooks, Casper Kelly. If you’ve seen that late-nite TV short from Adult Swim and enjoyed it, you’ll be somewhat at home with Buddy. While it doesn’t go as deep into the surreal-ness of sitcom title cards, Buddy takes aim at children’s shows like Barney the Dinosaur. If you grew up with those shows on various TV channels during the early morning, you’ll be right at home here.
The Sing-Along version of Buddy doesn’t really add much to the proceedings; it might even make the movie a worse experience for those who haven’t seen it before. The singing with the audience is nice, but it also means that you’ll miss some dialogue in a movie where a lot of the dialogue has a double meaning.
But for those Buddy superfans, the Sing-Along will be a welcome addition that should make for a cool bonus feature of a future physical media release.
A Darkly Entertaining Skewering Of Children’s TV
The film follows a group of kids on a television show where something is definitely off about its main unicorn character. As it goes on, the mystery somewhat unravels, but they have to escape the killer unicorn. If there was a main criticism that I had for Buddy is that the narrative structure is a bit disjointed. Obviously, you have to start the film off with the show airing, but it does take a bit to get into the actual story. There are also some smaller gripes I have like a scene where the kids get high off eating flowers that feels completely unnecessary.
Buddy does end up with some good bits of terror and gore, if you care for dinosaur puppet gore. Keegan-Michael Key does a great job alongside the other voice actors for characters like Mr. Mailbox (Eric Bauza), Strappy (Patton Oswalt), Jimmica Collins (Betty Bunny), and Charlie The Train (Devon Hawks Ludlow). These characters have equally great physical performances by the people in the suits, which combined together, adds to a lot of the comedy. Most of it is when you expect something that’s going to sound like a children’s show line that ends up subverting that expectation.
Topher Grace is also another highlight as Ben, Grace’s (Cristin Milioti) husband. Milioti isn’t a gigantic role in the film, but she also does an admirable job. However, the real show-stealers here are the kids. They really have to play dual roles as the happy-time kids and then the kids when they figure out what Buddy is really doing. They’re the stars of the show including Freddy (Delaney Quinn), Wade (Caleb Williams), Oliver (Tristan Borders), and Hannah (Maidson Skyy Polan). All of the kids are part of the most terrifying and hilarious scenes in the movie. In particular, once things start slipping with Buddy’s facade, the one-liners here like:
Wade, you know that’s a lie!
Overall, Buddy: The Sing-Along Version is a fun theatrical experience that doesn’t really add very much to the overall film. If you’re into this kind of horror movie, you’ll love it. If you don’t like the darkly weird surreal-ish horror, then it’s definitely not for you. With a new character that has plenty of potential in Buddy, we’ve likely got a new horror icon at the very least.
Buddy: The Sing-Along Version releases in theaters on October 2nd.
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