Baby Invasion

Some people would like you to believe that this is "Pushing Boundaries" or "breaking the mold". I don't know who they're trying to convince but any normal person will watch this and within 30 seconds realize this is garbage. There's a reason this isn't a "cinematic style" is simply because there is nothing cinematic about it. Nothing. I'm not sure what Korine wanted to achieve with this. Perhaps make it so bad that people will walk about it, making more and more people wanting to see what the "big deal"? Hoping to make a cult classic - one of those "it's so bad it's good" movies. At least those movies are entertaining. This is painful to watch, and simply cringe. If anyone really wants to see what the "big deal" is, simply watch the trailer. Garbage is garbage, no matter how much you want to put an artistic spin on it.

Harmony Korine's "Baby Invasion" isn't a movie. It's an 80-minute psychological torture, a fever-dream fusion of screen life, video games, red rooms, and home invasion.

If "Spring Breakers" was a neon-lit crime fantasy and "Trash Humpers" a found-footage provocation, this latest effort is something else entirely - a disorienting, aggressively experimental trip that dares to ask: what happens when we stop distinguishing between reality and the digital abyss?

Korine has shed his raw '90s aesthetic, embracing a hyper-stylized, tech-driven approach (something he previously explored in "Aggro Dr1ft") that will likely alienate longtime fans. But art is experiment, and experiment he does.

Shot using real-time rendering technology and ultra-fast graphics cards, "Baby Invasion" distorts and manipulates its own images as they're captured, making it feel more like a glitched-out video game stream than traditional cinema.

First-person footage of mansion break-ins, AI-generated face-swaps that turn criminals into devilish Gerber babies, and a mid-movie dance party set to Burial's pulsating score - this is not storytelling in any conventional sense. It's a chaotic, fractured reflection of a world where attention spans are shredded, and moral boundaries blur with every refresh.

At its core, "Baby Invasion" functions as a warped commentary on gaming culture's descent into nihilism. The "film" plays like a livestream of a dark web game - Baby Invaders - where players commit simulated home invasions for digital clout, their identities masked by AI-rendered baby faces.

A fake chat overlay runs throughout, echoing the desensitized reactions of internet spectators. There's an eerie implication that the technology at play is more than just a game - that either the players have lost themselves in their violent avatars, or worse, that something (or someone) is using the game to manipulate them into real-world crimes.

It's "Straw Dogs" on steroids, only now the siege is broadcast for an audience that barely registers its horror.

While "Baby Invasion" thrives on tension and unpredictability, its relentless chaos and refusal to offer a clear message make it a tough watch. Some scenes drag on too long, others cut away too fast. But the film's true horror isn't in the acts of simulated violence - it's in how much fun the players seem to have.

No one questions the morality of what they're doing. No one fights back. The only concern is racking up points. Or so, we think!

Watching "Baby Invasion" isn't just disorienting - it's nauseating, hypnotic, and terrifying all at once. This isn't cinema as we know it, but an immersive descent into the darker corners of the web, where reality and simulation merge into something unrecognizable.

Harmony Korine doesn't ask if this future is coming - he suggests it's already here, and we've been playing along without even realizing it.

Doubling down on everything irritating found in AGGRO DR1FT, Baby Invasion soon becomes numbingly repetitive and could only have come from the clinically insane mind of Harmony Korine. Despite all the creative ideas and its attempt to further push the boundaries with his recent affiliations towards his EDGLRD aesthetic, the film ultimately settles for infantilised drivel, horrific sound design, nausea-inducing visuals and generative AI monstrosities. Lacking any form of cinematic style, Baby Invasion may attempt to simulate a video game but it fails to include the elements that have made gaming such a unique art form; be it a compelling narrative or even a satisfying gameplay loop. It's one thing to play a video game... but sitting down and watching one, especially as bad as this, is frankly quite boring. It's clear that Korine wants nothing to do with conventional cinema anymore, thriving on mere gimmicks, he thinks he's cracked the code on what comes next, but I sincerely hope he's miserably wrong.

Once again I have no idea on what I think of this.

Yet another experimental experience by Harmony Korine.

I don't know what this film is. If it can even be considered a film.

Like Aggro Dr1ft it's a YTP made cinematic. Which I like a lot.

But there's ultimately nothing. I don't even think I can give a proper rating. I didn't hate it, but watching it just made me feel very empty.

Maybe that's the point? The film's Livestream chat makes many references to nihilism and the word itself is mentioned near constantly.

The whole film is an assault on the senses and much like Aggro Dr1ft it's filled with existential dread throughout.

Some moments in this whole thing genuinely unnerved me and even startled me at times.

If I had to guess the film is allegorical on video game violence and how do we draw the line between fantasy violence and IRL violence? I can't help but feel the Spring Breakers vibes coming back as Harmony probably made this to be the ultimate middle finger to Gen Z and perhaps is a warning on the future of Gen Alpha iPad babies.

I can't discern any other meaning beneath this film's symbolism. It's beyond Lynchian, it's something completely different.

Once again people are overreacting to the AI usage in the film. As it's barely there at all. Most of the film is covered in trippy visuals and animations.

This film feels horrifying. I can't really process my thoughts on it.

It is certainly a spectacle to behold. And I'd say it's definitely better than Aggro. Because at least this movie doesn't pretend to have a plot.

The film itself straight up says it's not a movie or a game or real life while simultaneously saying that it is.

The film doesn't know and knows at the same time. It's just screwing with you. Which is what Korine usually does.

Nightmare fuel with a rainbow coat of paint.

Tbh tho this would make for a bad ass SWAT 4 mod.

7/10.

It is a technology demonstration, except the artist has zero proficiency in the technology they are attempting to showcase.

Baby Invasion is full frame of overlays and filters. Visual effects using artificial intelligence, video game engines, infrared depth and motion sensing, and datamoshing to name a few. Though the filmmaker seems satisfied with merely achieving the effect with little care for the end result.

It does have a very small amount of interesting naïve art. Though not always, you'll know when it's being displayed because they were smart enough to remove the simulated livestream chatroom overlay that otherwise takes up half of the frame throughout the 79 minute runtime.

I did enjoy the soundtrack which I felt accompanied the imagery well. The original score by Burial really carries the film, allowing it a chance that anyone would ever view it to the end.