The downfall of a Canadian town is detailed with Lovecraftian comic-absurdity through faux TV programs and commercials in writer-director Simon Glassman’s Buffet Infinity, presented as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Buffet Infinity is 100% up my alley. It’s a film of over-the-top, hilarious, yet uncomfortable, horror comic-absurdism. It’s a niche that won’t appeal to everyone. But for those who say “yes!” to the premise, it’ll land in the most perfect ways.
That premise and niche? The viewer is watching local broadcasts over a few months in a small Canadian town as it descends into a Lovecraftian darkness and madness, with the story unfolding in a series of commercials, PSAs, news reports, public access, and similar content.
I’m a big fan of “found footage.” Not the horror genre, okay, I like that subgenre just fine, but the other meaning: strange media found on old VHS tapes, public access oddities, weirdos across the internet; the type one thinks, “who is this for? Some random dude’s exercise routine or failed stunt show? Who would buy this? These often bizarre artifacts are something I love to watch. Mostly through The Found Footage Festival and Everything is Terrible YouTube shows. These slices of unintentional absurdity are often hilarious, wonderfully strange, and delightfully endearing. It’s these that Buffet Infinity delves into, using the unique method to tell its story. I love absurdism, media where the rules of the weird world don’t quite work and break down as the story continues. And horror is my genre of choice, especially with cheekiness. Buffet Infinity is a beautiful mix of all these influences. So, yes, it was made for me; even if writer-director Simon Glassman didn’t know that when he set out to make it.
For a quick and easy comparison of how Buffet Infinity works, think of a 100-minute version of [adult swim]’s Too Many Cooks or the short film Great Choice (look it up), which presents the familiar, cracks it open, and delves into the uncomfortable, yet strangely familiar, underbelly of the program. Or VHYes, a similar setup that was pure comedy instead of mixing the concept with an unknowable horror. It’s a TV version of the Welcome to Nightvale radio station.
The verisimilitude of the methods is tantamount; a real world needs to be built before it’s broken. At the start, it could be ripped directly from a standard TV channel surf. Commercials for a pawn shop and a used car dealership have poorly acted sketches and characters. An insurance company is shilled by a woman with a weird life. A sandwich shop owner hawks her special sauce. An attorney is a little too aggressive. A culty church fills public access airwaves with its messaging. But wait! There’s more! But I won’t tell. But it’s perfectly presented. The soft, grainy look, and the acting is spot-on to the local commercial atrocious line-readings.
At the center is the titular Buffet Infinity. The new business in town. it might be up to no good. It starts with a funny, one-upping rivalry between the sandwich shop, but it’s not long before the unknowable terror looks to other businesses and the town itself as the mundane becomes macabre. The restaurant is creepily expanding and might be the cause of the rash of disappearances, the sinkhole, or that strange noise everyone is hearing.
Glassman has an incredible skill in setting micro-creations. While there are a few one-offs, most of the story is presented through the repeated programs, building off one another in a frenzy. It’s a WarioWare method of storytelling: 10 to 30 second bumps of cascading absurdity. It’s a skill to jump into the next shift, reestablish location, what changes have occurred since the last visit, meld in what the other spots have told, and move the story forward by inches. The rapid-fire method builds a beat and flow, with the little bites adding up to a satisfying meal. At Buffet Infinity, of course. Why would you eat anywhere else? Just park out front.
The cracks in the town and residents are immediately apparent, while the commercials start “normal,” immediately the air of “something isn’t right” pervades. It’s a cursed media. It’s a great joy watching the sanity be etched away as the story and Buffet Infinity expand. I had concerns that it couldn’t sustain, especially how quickly it progressed, but it does so splendidly.
I’m not hiding how much Buffet Infinity worked on me. The method of short TV moments. The hilarious absurdity. The overall story of otherworldly Lovecraftian shifts. It’s all perfectly put together with astounding editing skill and timing. Buffet Infinity is a masterwork of insanity, gleefully reaching the highest reaches of absurd comic-cosmic-horror.
Buffet Infinity is presented as part of the 29th Fantasia International Film Festival, running from July 16th through August 3rd, 2025.