My general approach is that I’d rather not know unpleasant things. I don’t like being scared, and I don’t like gore. This has generally kept me away from the horror genre. My first exposure to it was watching summaries of the Saw movies on YouTube back in high school. I didn’t actually want to see any of the gore porn, but I was curious about the story. Then in university I took a film studies class that focused on horror. This was the first time I remember actually watching horror movies. But after that class ended, I went back to avoiding the genre. This was until Weapons (2025). That was the first time I went to a theater to watch a horror movie. I didn’t really think much of it, but as the trailers were wrapping up, I remember thinking, “hold on, what am I getting myself into here?” Turns out it was a really fun movie! After that I became a lot more open to watching horror movies. It was actually Obsession (2026) that reignited my recent movie-going. Perhaps less so because of how amazing I thought the film was and more so because it was my first time going to the theater since I moved to New York, but I digress.
Buddy was a solid, fun movie. This might be my lack of experience with the genre, but I thought it was unique. I liked the cutting between aspect ratios for the different settings. I thought the set design was well done. The run time was perfect; I felt like they got everything they needed in without dragging it out. This movie reminded me of Backrooms (2026), especially the ending. I’ll avoid spoilers, but they give a little tease of “here’s what’s actually going on”. It’s quite brief, and the pessimistic side of me thinks it’s just bait for clickbait videos explaining the movie, but it still worked for me. I will say that I didn’t particularly feel much during the movie. I didn’t find it to be scary or suspenseful. I thought there were some funny parts, and I was surprised I found myself getting slightly emotional at one of the scenes. If you’re looking to be on the edge of your seat the whole time, I don’t think this movie is it. But for a very solid, fun, and unique movie, I think Buddy delivers.