‘Free Buffet’ Heads to Dead Northern With a Killer Menu

Bankruptcy, marital collapse and murder are all on the menu in Free Buffet, the darkly comic Spanish horror from filmmaker Zoe Berriatúa that will receive its UK premiere at Dead Northern Horror Film Festival next weekend.

Screening at City Screen Picturehouse in York on Saturday 26 September, the 117-minute feature follows Xian and Ikki, an Asian couple running a struggling all-you-can-eat restaurant in Spain while their relationship disintegrates around them.

Business is bad, their marriage is worse, and when a customer dies from poisoning inside the restaurant, the pair make a decision that pushes the story into increasingly grotesque territory. Rather than report what has happened, they hide the body and begin eliminating anyone who could expose their secret, turning their victims into frozen stock as the consequences begin to pile up.

What initially appears to be a plan to save their livelihoods quickly becomes something much more destructive, with Xian gradually forced to confront the possibility that the greatest threat to the relationship may not be outside the restaurant at all.

Written and directed by Berriatúa, Free Buffet was shot in Spain and performed in both Spanish and Chinese. The filmmaker has said that choosing to make much of the film in Chinese was fundamental to creating a sense of isolation around its central couple, placing them within a foreign environment where their support network is limited and communication with those around them becomes another source of pressure.
The film also uses its extreme premise to engage with themes including racism, sexism, toxic relationships and the ways in which people attempt to justify cruelty through love.

Berriatúa previously directed Los Héroes del Mal in 2015 and En las Estrellas in 2018. His career has also encompassed acting, screenwriting, illustration, animation, producing and visual effects, with the filmmaker running his own VFX company, La Bestia VFX.

The cast includes Xian Yan Huang, Ikki Carlos Wu, Bo Jiaying Lii, Ismael Fritschi and Antonio Dechent. Carla Gobe edited the film, with Rosa Vercher serving as director of photography and executive producer. Beatriz Almendros handled art direction, while Iván Palomares composed the score.

The combination of relationship drama, social pressure and pitch-black body disposal comedy makes Free Buffet one of the more unusual international titles in Dead Northern’s 2026 line-up.

Free Buffet receives its UK premiere at Dead Northern Horror Film Festival at City Screen Picturehouse, York, on Saturday 26 September 2026 at 12.15pm.

Grab your tickets now from the following places: deadnorthern.co.uk/

Free Buffet trailer