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Horror has given us plenty of terrifying monsters over the years, but a flesh-eating children’s TV unicorn is impressively uncharted territory.
The gloriously demented new movie has emerged as one of the year’s most unexpected horror successes, turning a tiny $3million (£2.2m) budget into $15.9m (£11.8m) at the US box office.
And viewers are going wild for the surreal comedy horror, with some even declaring it ‘better than Obsession and Backrooms’.
The comparisons are particularly fitting given Obsession and The Backrooms have their own unlikely success stories. Both emerged from unconventional beginnings rather than the traditional studio horror machine – Obsession as a tiny-budget indie and The Backrooms from Kane Parsons’ viral YouTube horror series – before becoming surprise hits.
Buddy takes the cosy familiarity of a 1990s children’s TV show and asks the important question: what if everything about it was actually just so, so messed up?
Directed by Casper Kelly, the film follows a group of children trapped inside a bizarre television series ruled over by its seemingly cuddly unicorn host, Buddy.
Except this is very much not the sort of unicorn you’d want printed on a six-year-old’s duvet, something that was proved by viral posts on social media claiming parents in the US have take kids to the film by mistake, assuming it was for children.
While there have been no verified instances of this possibly-traumatising parental misstep, it’s easy to see how the cuddly orange unicorn in the marketing might create confusion about the genre.
Buddy, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, is a malevolent, flesh-eating nightmare, and the children must find a way out of his increasingly disturbing world.
The cast is unexpectedly stacked too, with Cristin Milioti, Patton Oswalt, Michael Shannon, Topher Grace and Clint Howard appearing alongside Delaney Quinn.
After premiering in the Midnight section of Sundance Film Festival in January, the movie reached US cinemas on August 28 through Roadside Attractions and Saban Films. Word of mouth has only added to the buzz.
‘Simply put, Buddy is everything you could want from a midnight movie,’ one impressed viewer declared on X.
Another casually revealed: ‘I’ve seen it twice now lol.’
Others have started ranking it alongside – or rather, above – some of the year’s other major horror releases.
‘Buddy was better than both Obsession and Backrooms,’ one fan insisted.
‘I liked Obsession but yes Buddy was way better,’ another agreed. A third doubled down: ‘I agree 1000% Buddy was better than Obsession.’
Perhaps the best indication of exactly what kind of chaos we’re dealing with came from one viewer who described Buddy as a mixture of Happy Tree Friends, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared and Barney.
Its success has inevitably left viewers wondering whether Buddy could get a sequel, with one fan already asking: ‘Will there be a sequel to the first movie? I absolutely loved it!’
There is one group feeling rather left out of the Buddy love-in, however.
While the film has been released theatrically in America, UK horror fans are still waiting for news of a wider release. Buddy did make it across the Atlantic for screenings at FrightFest in August, where there appeared to be considerable appetite for it.
One Reddit user who said they worked on the festival box office claimed both screenings ‘INSTANTLY sold out completely’, adding that unlike most films at the event, there weren’t even returned tickets available.
But fans discussing its release have said Buddy has yet to secure a UK distributor, prompting plenty of frustration from those watching the hype build from afar.
‘We need Buddy in the UK!’ one person demanded, while another asked: ‘When can UK people see this film?!’
One fan said they were confused that a distributor hadn’t snapped it up, particularly with Halloween approaching, and hoped its US success might finally change that.
Another admitted: ‘Genuinely I’ve been fighting demons trying not to pirate it,’ because they wanted to hold out for the chance to see Buddy properly in a cinema.
And if the comparisons to Obsession and Backrooms are anything to go by, Buddy may only just be getting started.