Casper Kelly, best known for Adult Swim’s surreal viral hit Too Many Cooks, is making his feature-film debut with Buddy, a horror-comedy arriving in cinemas in three weeks. The film turns the nostalgic format of a 1990s children’s programme into a slasher premise, with an apparently friendly orange unicorn mascot becoming a violent threat.

The story appears to follow a present-day woman, played by Cristin Milioti, investigating the vanished children’s series It’s Buddy. Teasers show VHS-style imagery, frightened children and the bloodied mascot carrying an axe; Topher Grace, Michael Shannon, Patton Oswalt, Clint Howard and Keegan-Michael Key also star. Buddy opens in cinemas on 28 August.