Review: Buddy

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Official synopsis: A brave girl, Freddy (Delaney Quinn) and her friends must escape a kids television show, "Buddy."

Any horror movie about a Barney-esque children's TV show is going to catch my eye, but one from Casper Kelly? The man behind the hilariously annoying short film Too Many Cooks? That's enough to sell me. 

We start the film with the corniness dialed up to 100, in an episode of Buddy. We spend a bit of time there before we get to the secondary plotline involving Grace (Cristin Miloti) a mom in the real world who is slowly starting to lose her mind. This is a brief interlude. Most of the film does take place within the TV show. 

I really like the story as a concept, but it feels uneven in the execution. There is a thread that ties Grace's story to Freddy's but it doesn't have the most satisfying conclusion. I think the film would've been better if they had trimmed some of the children's journey on their own and incorporated Grace earlier. It's very weird to have someone of Miloti's caliber not be utilized more and I think the two stories would've blended better Grace had more time with the kids. 

The casting director deserves major props for finding the child actors involved. They have to be both convincingly cheesy and terrified at various points throughout the movie. Some of the strongest scenes are Buddy in full "I love you, you love me mode" while Delaney Quinn, Caleb CJ Williams, Madison Skyy Polan and and Tristan Borders are all crying off to the side as they try not to anger him. They did an excellent job. 

If you're worried about the gore, most of it involves Buddy himself, so it's very humorously done. I was kind of surprised there wasn't more of it. 

Overall, while not perfect I still think Buddy is a fun watch, even if you don't get to it in theaters. 

Grade: B-


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