By David Slifer

Horror is making a comeback this year with some new, twisted and mind-blowing concepts. The most recent hit in the genre is the film “Buddy,” directed by Casper Kelly and starring Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Keegan-Michael Key and Patton Oswalt. The story is a mixture of horror, kids TV, supernatural and what directing major Adriel Halavach said, “in a way, it could be interpreted as a coming-of-age film.”

The film opened with the feeling of a regular kids TV program starring the title character Buddy. The atmosphere is very much like an episode of Barney. However, as the story progresses the tone shifts and Buddy does not seem like the loving and friendly unicorn he seems to be. Freddy (Quinn), who is one of the cast of kids in the show, starts to notice the cracks throughout the show when she finds that one of her co-stars has gone missing.

Another character we follow is Grace (Milioti) as she starts to feel like something is missing from her life and is doing whatever she can to find out what is missing and how Buddy ties into all of it.

For those wondering where the supernatural element is, this is where it gets interesting. The show “Buddy” does not actually exist. It is a world that Buddy is dictator of and has stolen people from the real world to play characters in his show.

Although the film has not reached massive numbers at the box office like “Obsession” or “Backrooms” this year, the reviews for it have stayed positive and promising, showing that the horror genre is making a comeback. The movie did not have much in the way of marketing through television but was able to really push the message about this film through social media with sophomore musical theater major, Bryson Carter saying, “I heard about the film through Instagram” and John Michael Mottola saying “I saw the trailer for it on TikTok.”

With television not being that much of an option, the marketing team put 110 percent into making sure it was getting to people through social media. It worked out in the end as people grew intrigued and wanted to see the film.

The concept for this film was unique not just in what the story was about but also how it was approached when creating the individual aspects of the film.

“One thing that stuck out was the humor,” Mottola said. “It is rare that you see much humor in horror movies in general, but it almost felt like a dark comedy to me.”

“What stuck out to me was what I expected going in,” Halavach said. “For all forms of art there are certain reasons for its creation, but I also think that the creator intentionally made it to be interpreted in many ways. Whether that be bloody and gruesome for horror fans or experience for moviegoers. It was meant to be seen not in just the way Kelly intended it to be.”

“I was honestly expecting banana splits style torture slop,” said freshman Musical Theatre Major, Lynn McCord. “But I was very thoroughly impressed with the plot and the message.”

They also went on to say, “The movie focused so much on the underlying themes than the gore and fear factor.”

As stated, a few times already, horror is making a comeback. This film shows us a few different things. Two reasons being that the budget does not always need to be enormous and that wacky, unusual and crazy concepts have their audience and will reach people outside of that scope.

“In my opinion it is the first of its kind,” Carter said of the unusual ideas. “I cannot lie, while there are other horror movies that are based a lot on kid’s television and mascots, which is becoming a more well-known fear, I think the utilization of that as a source of fear makes me excited and makes me want a Buddy franchise.”

“I think this movie helps the horror genre expand its horizons more due to how outside the box the premise was,” Mottola added.

“I think this helps the genre appeal in a way that is not just jump scares thrown into the mix just to say it is horror,” Halavach said. “With a film like “Weapons,” it made the viewer wonder what they had just experienced. If a film like “Buddy” leaves the audience impacted the same way as the characters were, that makes for a good story.”

“Horror is such a popular genre and using it and mainstream ideas to send a message was powerful, important and relevant as the one in ‘Buddy’ is crucial,” McCord added. “I think more horror movies need to be sending these important messages.”

This film may not be shining like the North Star, but it is leading many creatives to the conclusion that the formulas can break the mold.