BUDDY - - Five Nights at Barney’s

Review by Adam Donato

Casper Kelly is responsible for the iconic viral video Too Many Cooks. Here he is back with another twisted television show parody with Buddy. It’s about a kids show host that looks like an orange unicorn version of Barney the Dinosaur. What begins as a typical kids show quickly becomes sinister as Buddy’s dark side starts to show. Now this innocent group of kids must escape with their lives, meanwhile a mother begins to notice there’s something missing with her family? Can Kelly recapture the magic and bring horror to nostalgic kids shows?

It tracks that Kelly is known for his short form content because Buddy feels like a silly short that’s been stretched out to a feature length. Unfortunately, it’s glaringly obvious what’s going to happen in the movie from the jump. So when nothing is added to the concept, it’s quite the let down. The section of the narrative that includes Cristin Milioti and Topher Grace adds context to the events that are happening in this evil kids show, but this doesn’t expand the concept in a satisfying way. Too Many Cooks feels like it takes a familiar concept but twists it in every way possible. Buddy fails to explore the interesting corners of this concept. So this is one of the rare situations where knowing a director’s style may hurt the viewing experience.

The target demographic appears to be preteen boys that are totally over kiddie crap. Wouldn’t it be cool if Barney was evil and killed the kids! Buddy is way closer to Five Nights At Freddy’s than anything else. Often feeling more cringy than scary. At times it feels embarrassing because it’s clear they’re trying to be menacing and it’s just not translating. This would be a fun movie to show to a mom because that’s the only demographic that might find this content shocking. It just feels like the absolute bare minimum was accomplished here. 

The best part about this movie is the production design. They do a great job of making this set look like a functional kids show. The costumes and puppets are all fun characters to bring this world to life. There’s moments of gore that scratch the surface of how sadistic this concept can be, but never fully realize it. Nothing is done to make the outside world look interesting or play around with how the show and the real world interact. The mystery behind why this kids show turned evil is nonexistent. It’s not like the lack of explanation is scary like Backrooms, it’s just boring. Everything began and ended with evil Barney. Maybe in a packed theater for a midnight screening would be fun, but there’s nothing below the surface here.

I don’t love Buddy, no I don’t. It fails at being scary or funny. Incredible disappointment compared to the director’s previous work. As the summer turns into fall, spooky season is almost upon us. This back to preschool type horror film may be fun for younger audiences, but adults can steer clear. If you enjoy this movie, Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 comes out in theaters next year.

Buddy hugs into theaters August 28th!

Rating: 2/5