BUFFET INFINITY Review

I have been on vacation for almost the entirety of time from August 13th through September 2nd. And because of that and the various trips I made (South Carolina and Toronto), I watched precious little in the realm of movies. I just haven't had the time or ability. I was either having fun with friends or at Fan Expo Canada as Press and working my time away there. On a year where I have been averaging over one movie watched per day, going over half a month without seeing many really felt like I was losing time and pace.

Most notably, AMC+ and Shudder release at least one or two new movies every Friday, and I was frightfully behind on those!

I do try to watch every new Shudder movies that comes down the pike, as devotees will know. I love that service to no end, even when the majority of what it feeds me is underwhelming nonsense. And so it was that in my first weekend back home, I watched four (4) Shudder movies that I had missed in the previous weeks.

The first, Hellcat, was a fine little outing based on a mysterious premise, and the Shudder summary made it sound intriguing. We see a female protagonist locked in the trailer of a moving truck and possibly having been infected by an unknown disease. It's a good bit of engaging fun, but the third act faltered, and I rated it a 2/5.

Next was Penny Lane Is Dead, another movie that sounded good based on the summary. It's a revenge thriller / home invasion horror movie that co-starred Ben O'Toole, who I absolutely LOVED in Bloody Hell (2020). I have recommended that movie to virtually every horror fan I know. So how was Penny Lane? Average. 2.5 / 5. O'Toole worked, but the rest was a mishmash. I won't be recommending this one like I have Ben's previous work.

The last Shudder entry of this weekend was Parasomnia. I wasn't as pulled in by the quick recap to this one as I was the others, but it ended up being okay. It did a lot with a little, but it didn't do any of it particularly well. Still... I like big swings. 2/5.

And--oh yeah--in the middle of all of those was a fourth entry, and the one that sounded the absolute worst as I read the premise: Buffet Infinity.

The idea behind Buffet Infinity is that it takes place entirely as a series of ads from a 1990's era small town in Alberta, Canada. As some unseen controller scrolls through the channels, time passes, and we see the ongoing developments of Westbridge through the point of view of local advertising and some quick news clips.

Missing pets, a strange Scientology-esque religion, a sinkhole, and business rivalries all take center stage as the movie flips through the channels to show us what is happening around our unaffected viewer over a nebulous amount of time.

And at the heart of it all seems to be a newly opened buffet restaurant...

TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS

+ Buffet Infinity is legitimately laugh out loud funny, and I had several moments of full-on belly laughs, especially in the first half of the movie. The various ads and their progressions as the film wears on are just so damn humorous. This might be the funniest movie I have seen all year, and in a calendar year that has featured stuff like The Invite, that is good praise. 

Do we come to Shudder for laughs? I mean... yes, to a degree. Shudder has introduced me to a slew of great horror-comedies in my time with it. So saying that I was chuckling away at a horror outing is not necessarily a backhanded Up.

+ The gimmicky shtick of Buffet Infinity might not work for some—and I bet my wife might hate it if I ask her to watch it—but it actually does a very good job at telling a story in a linear fashion. This movie works better than you might imagine, and the way it slowly metes out plot details through a series of commercials and news clips is highly creative. 

- The third act of the picture gets a bit messy as Buffet Infinity tries to eschew its earlier comedy in exchange for a semblance of creepiness or eeriness. It gets a bit confusing and introduces plot aspects that aren’t even alluded to earlier on (unless I missed small details on the screen, which is entirely possible because Buffet Infinity has a lot going on). It feels like it starts trying to do a bit too much to excuse its own stylization. 

It never loses or abandons its premise, but the commercials start being a little more... "why is this even being filmed?", you know? And the resolution feels out of nowhere. Honestly, it's not an awful third act, but it is worse than what preceded it.

- This one is the epitome of “not for everyone”, and a lot of people aren’t going to pay the entry fee to get on board with it. Even I was really hesitant to even watch it because the premise seems so limited. But a lot of folks are going to be checked out on this flick and never give it the fair shake it deserves. 

OVERALL

Buffet Infinity slots right into my Top Ten of 2026, and I think this is a movie that, like 2024's Hundreds Of Beavers, my estimation of it will only rise as it clatters around in my cranium. I REALLY enjoyed this picture. Sure the third act gets a little messy and loses the plot a bit, but the ride there is an absolute blast, and the conclusion isn't bad enough to detract from my enjoyment. I have been waiting all 2026 for the Shudder movie of the year that would knock my socks off, and here it is.

🍿 SCORE = 85/100