Buddy

Simply put, Buddy is everything you could want from a midnight movie. It gets harder and harder to find something that feels fresh enough to be truly shocking and executed competently enough to transcend its gimmicks, and we should all celebrate when we find one.

While it digs deep into the eerie insularity of mediocre TV, Kelly’s movie is also informed by the understanding that some of the best children’s entertainment is driven by a powerful sense of the uncanny.

By and large, Buddy proves that high-concept, short-form premises can be expanded to a feature format effectively, so long as the final film isn’t too winky and its stakes feel grounded.

Buddy is a blood-soaked nightmare full of dark humor and surprisingly touching moments. Like its title character, Buddy isn’t just fluff, there’s something deeper inside.

Casper Kelly is a talent to watch. In “Buddy,” he’s essentially reviving an old joke and doing multiple variations on it. But he has a gleefully rich understanding of the inner insanity that can drive pop culture.

The movie is a one-joke premise, cute and colorful but unsatisfyingly fleshed out.

Each time you think you’re seeing the daylight of something potentially better to explore on the horizon, “Buddy” keeps dragging you back into the banal darkness. Like the kids, you deserve far better than whatever this lackluster production amounts to.