A rare dual spoiler warning for those who haven’t yet watched either Casper Kelly’s Buddy nor Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The critics-pleasing new horror movie Buddy hasn’t exactly kneecapped mega-blockbusters Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey at the box office, but Casper Kelly’s colorfully calamitous feature broke into the Top 10 in its first week of release, and capitalized on an uptick in theaters for Week 2. Fans are loving the big orange unicorn voiced by Keegan Michael Key, and I’m absolutely in that majority.
Which isn’t to say that I came out of Buddy with a complete understanding of its lore and how things work in this bonkers universe. I still have several lingering questions and curiosities about what went down for Grace, Freddy and other characters. Though I wouldn’t have expected my biggest question from this 2026 movie release to basically be the same one I had coming out of the latest Spider-Man sequel.
Both Movies Deal With Forms Of Memory Manipulation That Aren't Fully Explained
Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s emotional hook, in large part, stemmed from Peter dealing with the aftermath of Doctor Strange’s spell that made everyone forget who Peter is – MJ and Ned in particular — with the ending offering possible hope for that spell to have been broken. But with that hope came lots of confusion and questions about how exactly the human brain’s ability to form memory works against pure magic. And we’ll likely continue asking that question until some future movie answers it.
Buddy doesn’t have any superheroes (that we know of), but there is definitely a kind of dark and evil magic at work dressed up like children’s entertainment. This one doesn’t solely affect memories, though, as it’s made clear during the horror movie’s runtime that reality itself changes whenever a child or adult is swayed into entering their TV screen to join the cast of “It’s Buddy.”
The family sticker on the car window is the clearest indicator, but a far more dramatic version happens even as Cristin Milioti’s Grace is still mostly within the real world, so to speak, with Topher Grace’s Ben seemingly unable to see his in-crisis wife freaking out, followed by a complete bedroom change once she’s fully enveloped. Which leads me to ask…
My Biggest Question: How Are Family Members' Memories And Realities Affected By The Buddy-Verse?
It's unclear exactly when Delaney Quinn's Freddy was drawn into joining Buddy's TV show, but that doesn't seem to have happened very long before the film kicks off, since she still looks the same in the flashback memories near the end. So it appears as if the family was living life normally, and presumably without school administrators calling to ask about Freddy's absences. For most intents and purposes, she and the other kids apparently cease to exist in clear ways to outsiders.
Which makes me wonder how exactly Grace's fleeting memories ended up being the key to breaking through that faux reality. When Freddy and Wade first suspected Buddy of killing Josh, did it crack that reality enough for a sliver of the truth to shine through in Grace's mind? I'll just assume the mother-child connection is why only Grace is affected, while Ben never stops sucking.
If that scenario is indeed close to what screenwriters Casper Kelly and Jamie King had in mind, then I'm newly horrified by the thought of Wade, Oliver and Hannah's respective mothers going through the same emotional turmoil as Grace, but without ever finding their children. I really can't imagine what George's parents must have gone through.
I Have Lots Of Questions Beyond The Memory Stuff
Since I don't expect Buddy's creative team to immediately offer any concrete explanations for characters' memory distortions, I might as well throw out some of the other overarching questions I had while watching.
- Do the other two unicorns, Bobby and Benny, have their own shows, or did Buddy kill them, too?
- If going into the Buddy-verse can make everyday objects anthropomorphic like Freddy's backpack, then what's up with those real mailboxes with fake eyes on them? [Pictured above]
- Is there an area in that school/studio with an actual train locomotive to use as a Charlie replacement?
- How many children have been "It's Buddy!" cast members?
- How many children escaped Buddy's yard like George and Willie?
- Why wasn't Mr. Mailbox's door fixed when "new episodes" started?
- Is there a "real" person inside the Betty Bunny suit?
- Is Buddy having sex with Betty and/or the nurses (as partially implied when he lasciviously licked Grace's face)?
- Are the mail workers and nurses random adults, or are they often parents of the children?
- Are the names in the "It's Buddy!" credits important to the lore?
I could have kept going with the questions, honestly, but l have this one dining room chair that I definitely need to put in the garage for some reason.
