The film Buddy, a horror comedy about a murderous unicorn on a Barney-style children's show, has become an unexpected box office success, earning more in its second week than its first. A Polygon critic argues that despite its promising premise, the film fails to deliver on either the humour or scares it sets up, and finds it far more satisfying to revisit Death to Smoochy, Danny DeVito's 2002 dark comedy that tackled similar territory with sharper writing and performances.

Buddy took $5.3 million on its opening weekend of 28 August and a further $5.7 million over Labor Day weekend, a strong result for a film made on a budget of just $3 million, though modest compared with earlier horror hit Obsession. The film follows children on a Barney & Friends-style show who discover their unicorn mascot, Buddy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), is a killer. By contrast, Death to Smoochy, starring Robin Williams and Edward Norton and directed by DeVito, flopped commercially in 2002, taking only $8 million against a $50 million budget, but has since built a devoted cult following praised for its pitch-black humour and strong cast, including Catherine Keener, Jon Stewart and Harvey Fierstein.