Buddy
This review contains spoilers
To elaborate:
- When Buddy changes to his final form I found it kind of corny, but mostly what bothered me was the pacing. It was the big conflict but they kind of just hung out in the house for a bit and Buddy acted kind of stupid. I didn't really feel the tension from it. But for the most part, the rest of the movie was paced well.
- It's a horror comedy and while none of it made me cringe, I also didn't laugh much. Sucks because I really dug what it was doing, it just didn't stick the landing on the punchlines. With that said, I laughed when Buddy was impaled on Mr. Mailbox because you think he's going to keep spouting off his positivity shit until he croaks but then his final word is, "Bitch." That was great.
And to be clear, even if I didn't find it overly funny, I still appreciated everything about its presentation and it was always just fun to watch.
- The child performances were not only good but they had layers. They had to deal with the fake kids show overacting but then they had to deal with more serious stuff. Honestly, across the board, solid stuff, and how many movies can say that when dealing with young actors like this?
- Speaking of kids, I said this movie has balls because Buddy almost exclusively kills kids. A few adults die but he be hunting them children. For some people, that's a line, and I get that. I don't think I have that with children but I get it because I don't like watching animal cruelty/brutality in movies. You just don't see many movies that do this.
And it's not overboard. For example, the first one is off-screen, but he still works because the kid is like trying to scream and Buddy says something like, "No you won't," and that line is so chilling in the context of that movie.
- Which brings me to my next point. When this movie wants to be creepy it is. It got me on a deeper level. The example above sat with me for a few minutes during the movie. There are parts like where he's got the knife to the one kid and he's like, "Stop cutting yourself." And just the general feel of this figure that's supposed to be good preying on children in a colourful environment... it's all very creepy and gross--not in like a gory way (though there is some of that) but a spiritual one.
Isn't just with the kids either. You got these objects like a mailbox or a couch or a train or whatever, they're all living things in this world. I was actually a little distraught when at the beginning Buddy kills the first kid and then you see Mr. Mailbox and Buddy had ripped off his "mouth" so he couldn't talk. That's fucking BRUTAL.
- Plot's interesting. Obviously you got the mascot slasher stuff, but there's more going on. When they get to Diamond City and they realize it's just a small prop they can easily kick over, that's great. Then there's a more major twist at the end about what the whole thing is, but it's still a little vague--even though we get the basic idea of what it is, we don't really get the why or any other explanation.
And then Freddy does escape with Mr. Mailbox and the backpack and when she gets to the real world, they turn into regular objects so she basically unintentionally kills them to escape. That's actually the saddest part of the movie. Think about that: mourning the loss of a mailbox and a backpack.
- Plus, the idea that Buddy drags people into the TV/his world and they just cease to exist in the real world entirely is horrifying. No evidence they were there at all. Just zapped.
Yeah, the more I write about this, the more I realize I love this movie. I was going to land on an 85 but nah, this can get a 90.
- When Buddy changes to his final form I found it kind of corny, but mostly what bothered me was the pacing. It was the big conflict but they kind of just hung out in the house for a bit and Buddy acted kind of stupid. I didn't really feel the tension from it. But for the most part, the rest of the movie was paced well.
- It's a horror comedy and while none of it made me cringe, I also didn't laugh much. Sucks because I really dug what it was doing, it just didn't stick the landing on the punchlines. With that said, I laughed when Buddy was impaled on Mr. Mailbox because you think he's going to keep spouting off his positivity shit until he croaks but then his final word is, "Bitch." That was great.
And to be clear, even if I didn't find it overly funny, I still appreciated everything about its presentation and it was always just fun to watch.
- The child performances were not only good but they had layers. They had to deal with the fake kids show overacting but then they had to deal with more serious stuff. Honestly, across the board, solid stuff, and how many movies can say that when dealing with young actors like this?
- Speaking of kids, I said this movie has balls because Buddy almost exclusively kills kids. A few adults die but he be hunting them children. For some people, that's a line, and I get that. I don't think I have that with children but I get it because I don't like watching animal cruelty/brutality in movies. You just don't see many movies that do this.
And it's not overboard. For example, the first one is off-screen, but he still works because the kid is like trying to scream and Buddy says something like, "No you won't," and that line is so chilling in the context of that movie.
- Which brings me to my next point. When this movie wants to be creepy it is. It got me on a deeper level. The example above sat with me for a few minutes during the movie. There are parts like where he's got the knife to the one kid and he's like, "Stop cutting yourself." And just the general feel of this figure that's supposed to be good preying on children in a colourful environment... it's all very creepy and gross--not in like a gory way (though there is some of that) but a spiritual one.
Isn't just with the kids either. You got these objects like a mailbox or a couch or a train or whatever, they're all living things in this world. I was actually a little distraught when at the beginning Buddy kills the first kid and then you see Mr. Mailbox and Buddy had ripped off his "mouth" so he couldn't talk. That's fucking BRUTAL.
- Plot's interesting. Obviously you got the mascot slasher stuff, but there's more going on. When they get to Diamond City and they realize it's just a small prop they can easily kick over, that's great. Then there's a more major twist at the end about what the whole thing is, but it's still a little vague--even though we get the basic idea of what it is, we don't really get the why or any other explanation.
And then Freddy does escape with Mr. Mailbox and the backpack and when she gets to the real world, they turn into regular objects so she basically unintentionally kills them to escape. That's actually the saddest part of the movie. Think about that: mourning the loss of a mailbox and a backpack.
- Plus, the idea that Buddy drags people into the TV/his world and they just cease to exist in the real world entirely is horrifying. No evidence they were there at all. Just zapped.
Yeah, the more I write about this, the more I realize I love this movie. I was going to land on an 85 but nah, this can get a 90.
Mini Review: I'm landing on a 90 despite some minor issues because as I wrote my full review I realized I love this. When it was trying to be funny it often wasn't, and there are some pacing issues. With that said, it's wholly entertaining the entire time, manages to be legitimately creepy/gross when it's attempting to do so, looks great, has an interesting plot with some fun twists. Also has good child performances. It's one of the most original and creative movies of the year while also having some balls.
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