‘Buddy’ Let Loose in UK Cinemas This November

Bright colours, cheerful songs and a giant orange unicorn might not sound like the ingredients for a nightmare, but Buddy is preparing to turn the comforting world of 1990s children’s television into something much nastier when Casper Kelly’s surreal horror comedy reaches UK and Irish cinemas this November.

The film takes place inside a seemingly wholesome children’s TV programme ruled over by Buddy, an enormous orange unicorn voiced by Keegan-Michael Key. Unfortunately for the young performers trapped within his colourful domain, Buddy expects everyone to play by his rules, and disobedience can result in extraordinarily violent consequences.

As the situation deteriorates, a young girl named Freddy attempts to rally the surviving children and find a way out of the warped programme. Outside that strange reality, Grace searches for her missing daughter and gradually finds herself drawn towards the disturbing world behind the television screen.

Cristin Milioti, recently seen in The Penguin and Palm Springs, stars alongside Topher Grace, Patton Oswalt and Michael Shannon, with Key providing Buddy’s voice.

The concept comes from filmmaker Casper Kelly, whose previous work suggests he is particularly well suited to turning comfortable television imagery into something deeply wrong. Kelly wrote and directed the viral Adult Swim short Too Many Cooks, which begins as an exaggerated television opening sequence before descending into increasingly bizarre horror.

He was also responsible for the memorable Cheddar Goblin sequence in Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy, another creation that transformed the language of deliberately cheap television advertising into grotesque comedy.

For Buddy, Kelly takes that fascination considerably further, building an entire horror film around the unnerving artificial happiness of children’s programming and the idea of being unable to escape from a world where everybody is expected to keep smiling.

The film comes from producers behind two notably different recent successes, Andrew DeYoung’s uncomfortable friendship comedy Friendship and Zach Cregger’s horror hit Weapons. That combination feels particularly appropriate for a project balancing absurd comedy, brightly coloured fantasy and extreme violence. The film has also been well received as it has done the rounds at a lot of major film festivals including London’s FrightFest.

Buddy will be released exclusively in cinemas across the UK and Ireland by Vertigo Releasing on 27 November 2026. Check your local cinema listings and catch Buddy’s very special show on the big screen.

Buddy trailer