You can't scroll through social media, read the news, or walk down the street without being bombarded by advertising. With the ever-present fear that our phones and computers are listening to us when that niche gadget you were just talking about magically appears in your algorithm, it's easy to grow suspicious of the companies behind the products. What started as a series of YouTube videos has grown into Buffet Infinity, the feature debut from director and comedian Simon Glassman blending surrealist comedy with a sinister story that amounts to a truly unique slice of screenlife terror.

Need a used car? Something to eat? A lawyer? Maybe a new mattress? You can find it all in Buffet Infinity, a film told through an unnamed viewer channel surfing the local TV station of Westridge County. But there's more to Westridge that meets the eye as a series of locals have gone missing, including Jennifer Joy Avery, the owner of small business Jenny's Sandwich Shop, which just so happens to be right next door to Buffet Infinity…And a mysterious sinkhole. The decline of the Albertan town is told through the adverts used as a battleground for the local businesses, as well as through a series of ominous messages accompanied by seemingly unconnected black dots.

Chaotic from start to finish, Buffet Infinity is a delirious blend of off-beat humour, surreal and cheesy visuals, and the outright bizarre that highlights how the utterly mundane can become simply spine-chilling. It's easy to think that the medium of advertisements would mean the film becomes repetitive, but the expert pacing, humour, and slow-building tension create an all-encompassing mystery that, just like the residents of the town, once we realise what is happening, it's far too late to be saved. Buffet Infinity is chaotic, but it's an organised chaos that sees Glassman deliver a truly gripping story in a unique and engaging medium. It's truly something to behold how so many TV commercials can be stitched together to create a coherent narrative that grips your attention from start to finish.

Far from repetitive, the subtle changes in each advert as they roll around keeps your eyes thoroughly peeled trying to gleen even the tiniest bit of information to unravel the mystery of the strange sounds heard around Westridge, as well as the origins of the mysterious buffet infinity that just keeps expanding – despite the media's best attempts to shut it down. Local businesses come to blows through their advertisements, while the news reports on the steadily growing panic in the area as people go missing in their hundreds, Buffet Infinity's staff remain hidden, and a mysterious sinkhole continues to grow. Through its surreal humour, it highlights just how our opinions can be manipulated through 60-second adverts and shiny products, a fact arguably more terrifying than what lurks behind the expansive menu at Buffet Infinity.

Buffet Infinity is unlike any film you would have seen before, and it's a breath of fresh air in the screenlife subgenre. Blending gut-busting humour, cartoonish characters, and a dreamlike world shrouded in mystery, it is a welcome breath of fresh air in an era of horror often focused on grief and trauma, instead revelling in the fun that can work hand-in-hand with scares to tremendous effect.

Buffet Infinity had its world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival on 28 July