PARK CITY, UTAH Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Buddy, which premiered Thursday at the Sundance Film Festival, is a fun horror comedy set in an unlikely milieu. A children's television show becomes a bloody death trap.
It's Buddy is a 1999 children's show centered on a person in an orange unicorn costume (Keegan-Michael Key) like Barney or the Teletubbies. Buddy sings songs with a cast of kids that teach them lessons like facing their fears.
Things start to go wrong when Josh (Luke Speakman) doesn't want to participate in an activity, so Buddy kills him off-camera. Freddy (Delaney Quinn) is suspicious of her friend's disappearance and Buddy only becomes more threatening over three episodes.
Production designer Anna Kathleen built a legitimate children's show. The set design is full of whimsy à la Pee-Wee's Playhouse with a talking mailbox, trash can and backpack.
It is an effective satire of those shows that simplify morals for kids. Turning it into a slasher movie with Buddy stalking the kids turns the show into a funhouse hell.
