This New ‘FNAF’ Inspired Horror Movie Is Disturbing For One Big Reason
Of all the latest subgenres of horror, mascot horror is probably the most divisive. From Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023) to Poppy Playtime and Bendy and the Ink Machine, horror franchises about children’s mascots doing horrific things are now more popular than ever with younger audiences. But one thing that has always confused me about those franchises is why any child would genuinely like mascots like Freddy Fazbear.
In-universe, kids love these characters, but for some franchises, that’s hard to believe. You’re telling me that a child in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2025) looked at the Marionette in all its disturbing, lanky glory, and didn’t burst out in tears at how freakish it is? However, Buddy (2026) is a mascot horror film that aims to fix that. It wants to create a beloved and believable fictional childhood icon that can be the fuel for many a nightmare, and it very well can, all thanks to the mind behind Buddy: Casper Kelly.
What Is ‘Buddy’ About?
For anyone who grew up in the ‘90s, just seeing Buddy, the lovable unicorn host of “It’s Buddy,” should instantly remind them of other lovable costumed children’s shows like Barney & Friends (1992) and Teletubbies (1997). And to anyone who has seen those shows, you have to wonder why it took this long to make a mascot horror film based on shows like that.
The film’s premise has been kept under wraps, with only a few teasers released, but they paint a picture of a film where something isn’t right. The teasers show frequent clips from the in-universe show “It’s Buddy,” with Buddy the Unicorn and his friends all singing and dancing with kids, while teaching them the standard lessons you would expect from a show of its type. Of course, things aren’t what they seem. The film’s official description says that one child “doesn’t want to play along,” as we see increasingly more terrified shots of children. But the most telling thing about “It’s Buddy” comes from the narration of a woman named Grace. Apparently, she couldn’t find any records of the show’s existence. No recordings, so no TV listings, nothing.
There’s something particularly unnerving about Buddy that hits different than Five Nights at Freddy’s. Both films seem to be about a person rediscovering childhood secrets, but the darkness present in Buddy is more palpable. There’s always something guttural about witnessing a dark subversion of something that was meant to be positive and uplifting, and Buddy takes it to the same extremes that Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (2011) did. It’s playing with the ideas of what’s real and what isn’t, going so far as to frame itself as lost media, and doing so in a way that gets under the skin and makes you question what’s going on. But then again, if you know Casper Kelly, that’s par for the course.
Who Is Casper Kelly?
In the world of horror, Casper Kelly is a name that most people probably won’t know. Some may know him as the man who directed the ‘Fun Size’ short in V/H/S Halloween (2025), but those who know him will remember him as the creator of Too Many Cooks (2014).
Released back in 2014 on Adult Swim, Too Many Cooks was the kind of fever dream that you could only find scrolling on cable in the wee hours of the morning. The joke was that it was an infomercial meant to parody sitcom openings like The Brady Bunch (1969), complete with a large cast of characters doing wholesome family shenanigans. And then it kept going. And going. And going. And all the while, a sense that reality itself was broken began to creep into more and more frames, whether it be a serial killer looming in the background, the sitcom intro being seen as an infection, or the cast becoming prisoners to the credits themselves.
It’s a lot to process, and even over a decade removed from its initial release, there’s still nothing quite like it. It seems like a parody at first, but descends into chaos at such a gradual rate that you don’t even bat an eye when the shift begins. Kelly’s brand of horror is all about being darkly subversive and going completely off the rails. He twisted the comfort and familiarity that sitcoms brought and made it something that lives rent-free in anyone’s head who watched it. And now he’s doing it again with Buddy, only this time, he’s been given a large budget to bring his nightmare to life.
Why ‘Buddy’ Could Be the Sleeper Horror Movie of the Summer
Buddy is definitely a film to keep your eyes on when it releases in theaters on August 28th, 2026 but will all of that potential actually pay off? If the critics at the Sundance Film Festival are anything to go by, then the answer is yes.
Buddy, much like Too Many Cooks, understands how horror works in the digital age. Too Many Cooks became a viral sensation upon release, and Buddy has been smartly playing into that YouTube horror aesthetic in its marketing. A YouTube channel was created showing clips from “It’s Buddy,” like the show’s theme song and a handful of commercials. It’s creating something akin to an ARG, and lord knows that when the film releases, plenty of people will be delving through its YouTube channel to uncover secrets about the film that were hiding in plain sight all along.
Not only that, but the film is going to be releasing at a notoriously slow time for movies. The middle of August and beginning of September is usually quiet, with very few major movies releasing. It was during this same time last year that Weapons (2025) exploded onto the scene with a similar tone and style, and took advantage of the lack of competition, propelling it into pop culture stardom. Buddy is running with the same playbook, and combined with the film’s focus on nostalgia and mascot horror, it may very well be a horror movie that will become impossible to ignore.
