‘Buffet Infinity’ Review: A One-of-a-Kind Horror Masterpiece That Will Have You Asking For Seconds

Buffet Infinity is innovative horror cinema that uses public-access channel surfing to convey a cosmic apocalypse unlike anything you’ve ever seen. 

“Are you ready for what’s coming?”

Horror is a genre that’s perpetually innovating and tapping into nonexistent subgenres and then making them mainstream. That being said, it’s still rare to genuinely see something truly original that’s never been done before. It’s scary to leave the comfort of conformity and structure, but the films that are willing to ignore these guidelines are the ones that have the potential to really be special. 

Simon Glassman’s Buffet Infinity is a daring, bold experiment that’s absolutely not for everyone. There is no doubt going to be many people who are left unimpressed with Glassman’s avant-garde debut feature film. Buffet Infinity admittedly requires some trust from its audience. However, it’s an experience that absolutely pays off and becomes a one-of-a-kind experimental horror film. Buffet Infinity presents a completely new way to tell a horror story that’s ambitious, alarming, and existential. 

Buffet Infinity tells the story of Westridge County, a Canadian suburb that’s caught in the middle of a cosmic apocalypse that’s the result of cults, human experiments, and a terrifying turf war between two restaurants. What’s so fascinating about Buffet Infinity is that it meticulously presents this story entirely through public-access channel surfing. Chaotic ads operate as a seamless, post-modern satire of consumerism, but also slowly, surely begin to reveal a grander story about a community under supernatural siege. Glassman’s formula for Buffet Infinity isn’t unprecedented. It draws heavy inspiration to the anarchic presentation style of the iconic Canadian sketch comedy series, SCTV, but it’s never been done before with horror, even though it’s such a natural fit for all-encompassing cosmic terror.

A lot of Buffet Infinity’s success relies on how thoroughly it commits to the bit. Much of the film’s enjoyment comes from the viewer’s familiarity and affinity towards public access television’s unpolished nature. Buffet Infinity uses an onslaught of disparate, unrelated commercials as an inescapable purgatory that washes over the viewer and traps them in creeping cosmic horror. It perfectly nails the absurdity of public access programming and late-night ads, which are then pushed to ludicrous extremes.