Intensity 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Simon Glassman
Written by Allison Bench, Simon Glassman, and Elisia Snyder
Buffet Infinity is a film as strange as its name. This lo-fi cosmic-horror oddity spins its story through local advertisements that slowly escalate from commercial competition to societal domination. It is a clever concept that takes a while to comprehend, but it manages to combine initially incongruent media into a cohesive story of dread and destruction.
Once upon a time in the nineties, before the World Wide Web, local television advertising was a major part of the media landscape. Production values ran from completely shoddy to memorable campaigns. Buffet Infinity eschews traditional narrative structure, instead prompting the audience to infer the story threads from changes in the advertisements within the marketing environment. Something dark and hideous is infiltrating the community of Westridge County, Alberta, specifically at the Crossroads Shopping Complex, where Buffet Infinity is looking to extend its influence throughout the town. Buffet Infinity proposes to be everything to everybody, and is displacing and consuming not just commercial property but the hearts and minds of the City. You know the old adage: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. (EVIL)
The movie has an anthology, low-res aesthetic like the V/H/S series, and the oppressive threat of Videodrome. However, comparing it to another feature is challenging. The narrative use of low-budget TV ads as the messenger is unique. The editors chose to stop most of the ads prior to finishing, giving the whole procedure an uneasy ambience. The power of this film lies in noticing how the next version of an advertisement you watch differs from the previous one. In most cases, they get weirder and carry otherworldly undertones. In other cases, the advertising stops. That business has been eliminated.
There are, of course, actors in this movie. But the characters really are the advertisements themselves. First, let’s take a look at the actors involved:
The Cast of Buffet Infinity:
- Kevin Singh plays Mostley Rosin, an ambulance-chasing attorney.
- Ahmed Ahmed plays Ahmed Ahmed, the owner of a pawnshop.
- Brandon Vanderwall plays Captain Savings, a superhero dedicated to low car financing.
- Allison Bench plays Jenny Avery, the owner of Jenny’s Sandwiches.
- Donovan Workun plays a depressed man in a self-help commercial.
- Claire Theobald plays the Insurance Warrior
- Siobhan Theobald plays the woman in the Mattress Commercial.
- Dino Primo plays the Reverend Langdon B Hershey, a horror novelist, musician, and cultist.
The Commercials of Buffet Infinity:
- Mosley Rosin & Associates: 1-800-555-PAIN. Mosley goes from a frustrated tort lawyer to a radicalized commercial supporter of cryptic forces.
- Westridge Automotive: “We Sell and Finance Affordable Used Vehicles.” These ads feature Captain Savings vs. his nemesis, Professor High Price, in an escalating series of violent confrontations.
- Mattress Mattress Surplus: “Where Good Dreams are Guaranteed.” These claims get wilder as the advertisements question whether your dreams are your own or are planted in your brain.
- Jenny’s Sandwich Shop: “She’s got the Sauce!” Jenny’s successful restaurant features her grandmother’s secret sandwich sauce. (Shhh! It’s a secret!)
- Buffet Infinity: A new business in town, offering everything you could want to eat… and more. Buffet Infinity gradually displaces and absorbs its neighboring businesses in the Crossroads Shopping Center.
- Find the Better You: A self-help anti depression hotline. The subject of this commercial slips deeper and deeper into despair, culminating in mind-shattering madness.
- Brooks Electronics: a locally operated business in the Crossroads Shopping Centre.
- Pet ‘N Play: A place for your dog to go when you are on the go. Located in the Crossroads Shopping Center, next to Buffet Infinity. They have to explain why a rash of missing pets has recently been happening at their facility.
- Babbacock Insurance: A stroganoff-obsessed spokeswoman who makes terrible life choices proves that Babbacock will cover you, even when your dumbest decisions cause untold destruction.
- A strange public service announcement, stating that “You can make the black dot disappear through the power of the fortified mind.” Paid for by the Westridge Society for Religious Freedom.
- Ahmed’s Pawn Shop: Ahmed’s amusing and awful rap jingles tout all the great items you can get cheaply and that he pays cash for.
- The 11th Annual Westridge Community Book Faire: Espousing the greatest works of literature, promoting the works of Langdon B. Hershey. This Faire is also sponsored by the Westridge Society for Religious Freedom.
Synopsis:
Imagine being at home in Westridge, watching local access television, or perhaps a UHF channel where all you are receiving are advertisements, with the occasional news briefing or public alert. These commercials give you a local flavor. This is Westridge, in marketing form. Each commercial lasts a minute or so, and initially, they are benign. Come to our store, they say. Save money! We’re local! Ominously, a key new player in town is about to change everything: Buffet Infinity.
News snippets report of curious omens happening in the community. Strange buzzing noises. Birds are gathering in huge numbers. Minor seismic activity. Most ominously, a growing sinkhole is opening near the busy Crossroads Shopping Center, where Buffet Infinity is opening its restaurant. Buffet Infinity isn’t satisfied with what they have. They push out first Pet N’ Play, which had to close due to mysterious pet disappearances from its care. Then Brooks Electronics. With Jenny’s Sandwiches, the most successful existing business in the mall, they go after Jenny with escalating advertising battles, matching her new offerings with ridiculous competing ads, most notably their ridiculous “Beyond Comprehension Burger.” They make some not-so-subtle jabs at her secret sauce.
Still, this resonates with cutthroat commercial competition. Other ominous warning signs emerge. The public pronouncements from local cultist Langdon Hershey and his spectacular demise are a harbinger of the looming danger. Jenny Avery goes missing. Not surprisingly, Buffet Infinity absorbs her store into their growing buffet empire, even as locals suspect that there’s nobody actually working at the buffet. The ads get weirder. More people start disappearing. The for-profit mysterious Westridge Society for Religious Freedom appears to be associated with much of this. Moreover, something unnatural seems to be behind this secret society. Something not of this world.
Evaluation
There is so much to try and process here. Each ad packs a lot of subtle information, but it is over before you can completely process what is happening. However, the overall cumulative impact makes the point even if you miss the first suggestive data drop. There is a humorous undercurrent throughout the whole film. The commercials are so slyly connected, with dialogue from one ad leading into the next. In that way, there is an odd running continuity, but it takes some getting used to.
Eventually, you start anticipating the next ad, as they get increasingly more disturbing and strange. My favorite ads were from Ahmed’s Pawn Shop. Ahmed and his employee make a completely shoddy combination. Even if the actors are terrible, that’s the point. Their awkward raps often don’t even rhyme, and they can’t hold a beat, but they are increasingly benefiting from the ongoing chaos. Jenny’s sandwich shop commercials are so sincere that they seem out of place among the other ads, but alas, Jenny becomes a victim of the expanding chaos. The Buffet Infinity’s cynically crafted ads, particularly the Kids Eat Free campaign, and the reaction to the disappearance of Jenny with a super-wholesome vegan buffet, speak to crass commercial manipulation.
However, it is hard to escape the low fidelity of this production. There is an overlay of VHS banding and overall graininess in the film’s quality. The credits were so blurry that I couldn’t even read the names in the closing scroll. You can stop the illusion at the end of the movie. The acting throughout is appropriate to the level of the advertisements, which makes some sense. For most of these performers, this is their first IMDb Credit. The editors did a remarkable job with a whole lot of snippets that have to be tied together.
Concluding thoughts
This is a wildly unusual production. It’s darkly funny, particularly as you get to know the various advertising campaigns. The best parts are the Buffet Infinity counterpunching advertisements that are deceptive and manipulative. By nature, this is a choppy and sloppy construct. There is so much stuff going on. It does remind me of watching trailer compilations of old kung fu or Grindhouse films. It boggles the mind, and some people may not be comfortable with this format. But if you are the type of person who enjoys watching marathon sessions of SNL fake ads, you’ll get a big kick out of this.
A testament to this movie is that I was still thinking about it the following morning. Also, the musical numbers in the movie are total ear worms. Perhaps it’s that submliminal advertising! Oh no!
Fans of cosmic horror will also connect with this central concept. Buffet Infinity debuted last year at Fanstasia Fest, and I received a screener for the Overlook Film Festival. Word from the PR firm for this film is that it will be released in cinemas and VOD later this month. The film is not rated, but would receive an R rating for some gore, violence, and language. A strong caution to those who suffer from flashing lights issues.
Review by Eric Li
