ALLISON BENCH IN BUFFET INFINITY

Late-nite TV ad-clip madness creates a woozy plotline

Buffet Infinity is a new Canadian horror-satirical film that builds its entire content out of a 100-minute interweaving of short clips of (mostly) fictional found-footage style old videotaped TV ads that, when so woven together, gradually begin to compose a creepy-comical sort of buffoonish David Lynch interconnected story of a disintegrating neighborhood - sort of. Unfortunately, characters and storylines, while oddball and droll as far as they go, don't develop quite far enough, and the film, for all its charm and originality, winds up consisting ultimately of suggestive hints rather than a full-scaled, Lynchian achieved reality. You can't help thinking, "Somebody could really do something with this idea!" (With these ideas, plural, actually.). But here, you're still seeing raw material, not quite finished product.

If you want more detail of the content of Buffet Infinity, - but really you have to see the film to appreciate what's going obn - Jeff Nelson's movie review written at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival provides a good summary:

Low-budget local commercials and news reports are threaded together to tell the alarming tale of two restaurants wrestling for a foothold in the town of Westridge County. Sandwich shop owner Jenny (Allison Bench) and the mega Buffet Infinity trade public jabs in a hilarious exchange, especially when the former’s “secret sauce” gets verbally dragged through the mud.

Ads for the local law firm, pawn shop, mattress store, and insurance company fill in the space. They riff on late-night television ad tropes with similarly sharp humor, but take a progressively unhinged turn in response to strange happenings around Westridge County. A sinkhole and a droning hum drive the population to madness and even disrupt birds’ flight patterns. Sinister messages flash on television screens mid-advertisement, hinting at a greater evil, as local restaurant workers suddenly go missing. He explains:
"Recorded on a VHS tape, the dated ads are full of distortion, grain, and recording issues. The format falls apart toward the end, leaning further into a found footage aesthetic that feels like a segment pulled from the V/H/S franchise." (V/H/S is an American horror anthology franchise that includes eight found footage films, two spin-off films, and one miniseries.)

While this is more raw material than a finished film, especially given the feature length, it's good raw material that will stimulate your brain and imagination and should be watched by any aspiring found-footage filmmakers searching for ideas. It is a stimulating watch.

Buffet Infinity, 100 mins., premiered at Montreal (Fantasia) Jul. 28, 2025, and has also been shown at Brooklyn Horror Oct. 2025 and New Orleans (Overlook) Apr. 2026. Opening in select cinemas on Apr. 24 and on VOD May 8, 2026.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.