| Baby Invasion | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Harmony Korine |
| Screenplay by | Harmony Korine |
| Produced by | Judd Allison Xlord |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Joao Rosa |
| Edited by | Adam Robinson Leo Scott |
| Music by | Burial |
Production companies | EDGLRD Picture Perfect |
| Distributed by | EDGLRD |
Release dates | |
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Baby Invasion is a 2024 Americanexperimentalthriller film written and directed byHarmony Korine, produced through hisEDGLRD multimedia company. The film centers on ahome invasion, which, in the film Korine swapped with baby faces usingartificial intelligence.[1] According to Korine, the film is structured as afirst-person shooter game with interactive elements.[2]
The film had its world premiere out of competition at the81st Venice International Film Festival, on August 31, 2024.[1] The film had its United States premiere atFantastic Fest 2024, on September 23, 2024.[3]
In afirst person shooter game leaked to thedark web, a group ofmercenaries disguised with baby faces invade mansions of the wealthy and powerful with murderous intent.[4] However, as gamerslivestream the game, the protagonists’ gang of horrific murders may or may not be happening in real life.
In an interview withVariety, Korine characterizedBaby Invasion as well as his previous EDGLRD productionAggro Dr1ft as works of "post-cinema" he termed "blinx" for their unconventional nature.[2] Visual effects forBaby Invasion were created usingartificial intelligence andvideo game engines.[2] British electronic producerBurial created an original score for the film.[4] Of the score, Korine said, "I never actually met Burial and I never actually spoke with Burial. So it was all done throughDiscord messages, and we'd kind of talk on PS5. And then the music was sent through PS5."[5]
Baby Invasion premiered out of competition at the81st Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2024.[1] During the Venice press conference, Korine sat next to visual effects artist Joao Rosa and fellow filmmakerGaspar Noé, who was wearing a neon green mask, and smoked acigar, causing smoke to fill the conference room. He expressed that "Hollywood ... would be smart to — encourage the youth, the kids. Why we're starting to see Hollywood crumble creatively is because they’re losing a lot of the most creative minds to gaming and to streaming. They're so locked in on convention and then all those kids who are so creative are now just going to find other pathways and go to other places because movies are no longer the dominant art form." He also revealed that, "When we release the film, there'll be a way to watch it through your phone, but there'll be certain codes within the movie that'll take you to other movies. So the film, what you're seeing, is just a base layer film. There'll be three or four other sub films."[5]
The film was released onvideo on demand on March 21, 2025.[6]
OnRotten Tomatoes the film has an acceptance rating 42% with an average score of 4.9/10 based on 12 critic reviews,[7] OnMetacritic, the film holds an average score of 36 out of 100 based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8]
Peter Debruge ofVariety gave the film a mixed review, writing "though little more than a gimmick, the baby angle gives Korine a hook for an experiment that’s only intermittently engaging for much of its running time."[9]