He’s your best friend and mine - Buddy 2026
HELLO HORROR GREMLINS: Join me as we take another chaotic plunge into the latest horror film: BUDDY! I’ll be discussing the following:
Summary of the story - MAJOR SPOILER WARNING.
Unsettling Moments - SPOILER WARNING!
Gore Factor - Did it gross me out?
Final Review + Would I recommend it?
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
Summary of the story:
The movie begins with an introduction to the whimsical children’s TV show “It’s Buddy!”. We follow our cast of characters: Buddy the Unicorn | Betty Bunny | Freddy | Wade | Oliver | Hannah | Josh and an array of animated props on set (Strappy the Backpack + Mr Mailbox + Clocky the clock + Trashy the trash can + Couchy the couch),
The movie is very reminiscent of Barnie the Dinosaur for its usage of fluffy body-suits, animated props and the confined cosy aesthetic of the park and the clubhouse. So, the horror mainly stems from taking the cosy aesthetic and distorting it with unsettling scenes of assault, murder and profanities.
The kids realise something is wrong when Josh goes missing after disobeying Buddy and kills Nurse Nancy for asking him about Josh. They devise an escape through Charlie the train, but Buddy stops the train and rips it’s face off. He then forces himself on Wade by making him cut himself with a knife, then Wade burns him with a lighter, setting him ablaze and revealing the flesh of the monster under the suit - See below.
Buddy hunts for them, the children escape over the fence and into the forest outside the park where they meet an old man (Once a kid in past episodes of ‘It’s Buddy!’) who makes a fairly brief appearance in the show alongside his puppet friend ‘Willie’. Both of them leave the kids, steal the backpack, get killed by Buddy. Freddy comes to get Strappy back, but Buddy strips him apart whilst it screams in front of her. The kids sneak up on bikes, grab the backpack and they ride towards the elusive Diamond City (Described as a paradise. Away from Buddy). They get closer and Diamond City gets smaller. IT’S JUST A PROP!
The episode ends with Buddy finding them by the collapsed prop of Diamond City. He hugs Freddy against her will in order to end the show, heal his wounds and start the next episode. All the other kids can do is cry.
We follow Freddy’s mother who starts to realise her daughter is missing. The film suggests that Buddy wipes the memories of the kids from existence in order to prevent suspicion. She finds out about the Buddy show, investigates further and is pulled into the TV screen by Buddy when one of his episodes is playing. He drags her inside the TV and she becomes Nurse Grace.
The next episode. We’ve got a new kid that doesn’t know why the others are crying. Buddy asks them to sing, but they sing the opposite song (told to them by George and Willie) which causes him to transform into his true form and kill everything on the set. The kids escape by going down the well whilst Nurse Grace sacrifices herself for the children. But the new kid, Caleb, gets cuddled by Buddy and the show resets again. But the kids are not reset since they are inside the well and in this school hallway area.
Buddy makes it down the well by cutting off part of his belly to slide through - Chases the kids - Corners Oliver and Hannah and eats them alive. Freddy is the last one standing.
She gets chased by Buddy down the underground school hallway, then, she drops strappy and stumbles down the stairs, with Buddy still advancing and telling her it’s time for her hug. Strappy uses his straps to trip Buddy as he falls down the stairs and Freddy uses the sharp end of Mr Mailbox to impale Buddy, killing him.
She takes Strappy and Mr Mailbox and explores further, eventually leading her to a gymnasium with a stack of TV’s. All showing children watching ‘It’s Buddy!’. One tries to reach out and come through the TV, but Freddy pushes it back in. Freddy then takes the props she has on her and climbs through one of the TV’s.
Freddy is in a living room by the TV she just climbed through and Strappy and the Mailbox are no longer animated. They are just normal items. She cries inconsolably, mourning the loss of the only things that kept her company in that strange world. Then a man walks into his living room, sees Freddy coated in blood and asks - ‘Who are you’.
The film ends….
Buddy hunting for the group of kids that escaped the park. Needs to hug them in order to be healed of his wounds and begin another episode. I don’t know about you guys, but I would love to see this character in Dead By Daylight.
UNSETTLING MOMENTS:
Buddy goes off screen and tries to force Josh (The nerdy book worm) to put on some dancing shoes. Josh protests and threatens to scream and you can hear Buddy straining and forcing himself on Josh as he kills him.
Buddy dances with the Wade’s dead body. Needs to be within physical proximity of the children in order to end the show, heal his wounds and start the next episode. But it doesn’t work because he’s dead, and so, he chucks him on the floor like garbage.
Buddy forcefully hugs Freddy as she squirms and cries in his arms. She tries to get out from his grip, but Buddy is too strong and only cares about hugging her to end the episode and start the next one. The kids around her can’t do anything. All they can do is cry inconsolably whilst the mangled Buddy forcefully hugs their friend.
Licks Nurse Grace’s face with his massive pink tongue whilst grabbing her buttocks. The Nurse is obviously uncomfortable throughout this whole interaction, but Buddy carries on because he knows she can do nothing to stop her. If you look at the credits, it says that Buddy is the ‘Executive' of the show. This is obvious of course. He is the main star: The magical orange unicorn. But he’s also representative of higher-up individuals in business that know they have the power to exploit their co-stars in any way they please because of their importance to raking in money. So the power goes to their head and makes them more monstrous. In Buddy’s case, he’s sick in the sense that he kills those who don’t make him happy, don’t agree with what he says and try to escape his control. But, he’s even more creepy due to him knowing that he’s the one in charge and knows he has the power to sexually abuse any of them like he does to Nurse Grace. This was probably the most unsettling part of the movie for me.
GORE FACTOR:
Josh’s bloodied book in Trashy the trash can - GORE FACTOR - 2
Buddy smashes the face of the nurse into a table when she questions him about potentially hurting Josh - No blood in this scene, but still unsettling and saddening to see Wade and Freddy quake in fear at the sight - GORE FACTOR - 1
Buddy makes Wade cut himself with a knife - But get stopped by Freddy who threatens to use a lighter to burn him alive - This scene doesn’t have a lot of gore due to the problems surrounding gross bodily harm to children (Plus, the film is presented through the confined digital lens of forgotten kids TV show - so the gore has to be suppressed to maintain the innocence of the show, whilst also having to strike the balance with the gore to make it a horror film) - GORE FACTOR - 3.5.
Buddy is burned alive (Description - Charred crimson flesh and muscle - Revealing the intricate connection of muscles and blood hiding behind the cuddly unicorn costume + A bulbous veiny eyeball - No oozing blood or bloody rivulets racing down the suit) - GORE FACTOR - 5.5.
Buddy stabs the postman (Blood spurts from abdomen + mouth) - GORE FACTOR - 3.
Wade impaled to a fence (No details - Out of shot - But shown in a psychedelic flashback from Freddy’s perspective) - GORE FACTOR - 4.
George (One of the kids from past episodes - Now an old man) gets an axe to the head (No oozing blood/spurts or extra details asides from the dried blood on the top of his scalp) - GORE FACTOR - 3.5.
Buddy transforms into this Kaiju, Godzilla-esk monster with spikes protruding out of his back + charred black skin and lifeless eyes - Nurse Grace stabs Buddy in the eye, releasing a little bit of green goo - GORE FACTOR - 4.
The mailman comes onto the scene. Asks where to put the mail (This is the comedy aspect of the film. Namely, the fact that these are characters on a kids TV show and not all of them are aware of Buddy’s true nature) and is impaled by Buddy’s Kaiju form. He lifts him up whilst he’s still impaled and spins him round like a clown balancing plates with a stick. It’s looks a lot funnier than it sounds and there isn’t much gore here either. Only the sounds of the kids and the nurse crying and panicking - GORE FACTOR - 3.
Buddy rips off Betty Bunny’s head (Blood spurts out of neck + spine dangles from Betty’s Bunny’s head + the flesh and muscles is stretched and snaps off once the head is fully removed) - this is the GORIEST PART OF THE FILM - GORE FACTOR 7.
Buddy cannot fit down the well to chase the kids - So, he cuts off the side of his belly with a knife whilst singing about reaching goals (Same flesh + muscle art we see on the charred Buddy near the start of the film + minor blood splatter) -GORE FACTOR 4.
Buddy swallows Oliver and Hannah whole - No gore - GORE FACTOR 0.
Freddy impales Buddy with the sharp end of the mailbox as he trips down the stairs (Blood spurts dripping down the pole + spurting on her face + Freddy is drenched in Buddy’s blood) - GORE FACTOR 5.
FINAL REVIEW - Would I recommend this movie?
Well…if you’re after a gory horror film, then I wouldn’t recommend this film. As shown in the Gore factor and the scenes provided, there is very limited gore and more unsettling imagery. Although there are scenes that had the potential to be gory and scary, most of the gory scenes are portrayed in a goofy lighting that detracts from the fear that the film attempts to convey. I can understand the unsettling contrast between innocence and monstrosity clashing together, wherein the latter is dominant and some pretty unsettling things are shown in this cartoonish aesthetic. But, for the slasher goals for the film, I don’t think it completely follows through.
If you want to be unsettled and feel like the light of the big screen is dousing you in a glaze of dirtiness and shame, then this film would be a great watch for you. There are many scenes that provide this: Buddy dancing with Wade’s dead body + forcefully hugging Freddy whilst the kids around her cry inconsolably as they can only watch Buddy assault her + Licking Nurse Grace’s face and grabbing her buttocks due to his position in power and knowing that she cannot do anything to stop him. All pretty hard stuff to watch. So, if that’s the kind of vibe you want from a film, then this would be a good watch for you.