By: Alexzander Talkington
September 3rd, 2026
Our friend until the end, it’s Buddy!
The year is 2026, and horror movies have been struggling to capitalize on the success that was the 2010s in terms of sales. A lot of horror movies during the early 2020s did not hit the big box office success that most movies try to reach in modern day cinema. However, in the mid 2020s, there has been a huge boom of horror movies nailing the mark with consumers. There have been major box office hits within the past years, such as Obsession, The Backrooms, Smile 2, and of course, Buddy.
Even with the recent release of the film, Buddy has proven that the major success horror movies have been seeing recently is here to stay, and could even recreate the big boom the genre had back in the ’90s. This success, however, did not come from out of nowhere. Many of these horror movies have been following a formula that has the majority of the world grabbed by the throat. The film Buddy has shown the world that horror films have turned into messages about the horrors of the real world, and everyone loves it.
The Orange Unicorn
Buddy was released on August 28th and it has absolutely taken the public by storm. The film centers around the concept of turning the children’s show, Barney & Friends, into a straight horror situation. The original show had real kids from volunteer families that would perform with the giant purple character. Thankfully, there weren’t any major issues behind the scenes when it came to this show but it was an opportunity for things to go wrong quickly.
Buddy takes this concept and completely flips it on its head, following the main character Freddy, who’s an unfortunate victim of the in-universe Buddy TV show. The character Buddy portrays in the TV show seems innocent enough however, when the film begins to rise, something goes very wrong. Not only are the children trapped but Buddy the Unicorn starts to get more and more aggressive, even to the point of murder.
As the film progresses however, every concept, idea, or premise you built up in your head of what you thought the film was going to be is not even close to correct. The best explanation without giving any spoilers is that the film exceeds major shock value in multiple points of the climax. The film mainly relates to Nope (2022), with how many off the wall things happen back and forth.
The film does its best in terms of scaring viewers, creating creepy situations, and even having some funny moments at times. For me, the film does end up landing a solid 7/10 rating. Although the film doesn’t have a lot of major issues, it is just a fun ride and that’s it. It’s an experience that can be enjoyed once, but might be crazy to think about once you look back on the film after the first watch.
Horror Imitates Real Horror
There’s a massive reason this film has hit the box office smash of $15.8 million in two weeks. It’s because it follows the same formula most of these horror films are showcasing nowadays. A ton of horror movies that include big hitter examples like Obsession, The Substance, and The Backrooms have been creating their plots around real world issues and messages that are happening to us today.
Instead of showing a ton of corpses, jumpscares, and things to just scare viewers, horror movies have recently been creating stories that showcase real world issues and ignite the fear we should have and it’s grabbing people’s money and attention. Buddy is another film release that has proven that this insanely rich formula is here to stay for a while within the genre.
An example of this includes the movie Obsession that released earlier this year which has gained a box office value of $509 million. The film gave an obvious commentary about how dangerous deep desires within people can be and it also showed the dangers of abusive relationships as a whole. The movie also resonated with gen z in particular which is why the message hit really hard and showed people the situations that occur in the movie are truly terrifying situations.
This sort of formula applies to Buddy as well. The movie itself is a message to how many adults have often ignored the situations of abuse on TV/movie sets or child grooming as a whole. A lot of Buddy’s dialogue throughout the film is created in a sort of way that seems repetitively manipulative towards the children. There are even kids within the script that fall for this dialogue.
Not only that but there are characters such as Betty Bunny who reiterate that many adults don’t see child grooming. Her dialogue also says constantly that Buddy isn’t doing anything wrong and the children just need to do what he says. Buddy’s constant aggression also showcases the behaviors abusers and groomers place onto kids, where disagreeing with something they do or say will result in aggression that easily scares children. It also reiterates child kidnapping issues as a whole, as there’s almost no way the kids can escape near the beginning of the script.
Why is this significant though? Sure the film takes this serious topic and shows the true horror behind it, but what is the point of caring? It’s not just for the shock factor, it’s to speak to the world. Every piece of media that has ever been released is meant to create a message, as Buddy does. These films are all trying to speak to us and that is why people love them so much.
Complexity Proves Wealthy
If there are a handful of these films being made and created, is it genuinely giving us a new formula of horror that can work? Sure, most of these films have high ratings in terms of the public and the reviewers, but do these films bring anything worthwhile to cinema? Does Buddy’s 89% show that this is a step in the right direction?
Well, yes, the film Buddy alone made $5.4 million in its opening weekend, which blew expectations completely out of the water. Not to mention, the film made even more in its second week out, making $5.8 million due to a crazy amount of advertising.
As the film’s budget was around $3 million, it absolutely has smashed the cinema threshold of making $15.8 million so far, creating a situation where Buddy has a profit of $12.8 million. The film is not even close to ending its run in theaters either.
It’s not as if this is the only film to do it either.Obsession had a box office value of $509 million. The Substance made $78 million, The Backrooms made $394.1 million, Smile 2 made $138.1 million, and Weapons made $270 million. It is very clear that the new formula for these horror films is causing the cinema world to explode.
Agony Through a Script
The significance that these sorts of scripts bring to the real world is a lot more massive than people believe, as it is intentional with how modern these issues the movies cover seem. Especially with a topic such as child grooming for a movie like Buddy.
With how many issues arise in the world day by day, more so in today’s times of course, these messages become the eyeball we need to see the bigger picture of how badly these situations are to the health of society, and the writers are using their free voice to turn these messages into the horror they truly are.
These won’t stop either, many issues that are significant will get covered by these movies day by day, and it obviously is getting people talking. The sort of movies like Buddy are the ones where you have to look up an explanation for the ending on YouTube minutes after finishing the film in theaters. They get you thinking, analyzing, and focusing on what the script is telling you for at least weeks on end.
Even with how unhinged the film is, it proves that the way horror movies are being written recently is not leaving. Buddy isn’t the foundation of this trend, but it is for sure another example of many that showcases how well the formula works, and it will make millions, but also bring millions together to see the horrors not only on the big screen, but in the real world as well.
Leave a Reply