Baby Invasion – REVIEW

Still from Baby Invasion


There aren’t too many movies where I think of what I think “movies” can and cannot be. I like to keep my mind open for a lot of things, even if I haven’t seen some of the widely agreed-upon classics yet. A massive standout in experimental film I’ve seen recently was AGGRO DR1FT, the first venture for acclaimed erratic filmmaker Harmony Korine into his multimedia company, EDGLRD. I thought AGGRO DR1FT was surreal to watch in a theater, and true to his statements on that movie and this one, it really didn’t feel like a movie. I have good memories of watching AGGRO DR1FT in a theater, even though it’d probably be a one-time event. Korine isn’t stopping with this, though. Outside of AGGRO DR1FT and his latest “film,” the one we’re about to talk about, his next film is already set: The Trap, his first animated movie which was originally going to star Idris Elba, Robert Pattinson, and Benicio del Toro before it imploded right when it was going into production. That’s the future of EDGLRD, though, but who says that Korine is trying to capture something futuristic with his ventures under the company? I don’t blame him, I’d be lying if I said he didn’t have my attention, but with every high comes a crushing low, and Baby Invasion is the low to AGGRO DR1FT’s delirious high. Released right to video-on-demand, Baby Invasion is what happens when an early build of a VR game titled Baby Invaders, where you play as a group of mercenaries with AI-generated baby masks (ugh), is leaked by dark web hackers and released onto the Internet. In little scenes bookending the movie, we see developers of the game saying that they want it to be lifelike and have implemented a hypnosis-like mechanic into the game, where they wanted to make the experience as lifelike as possible. That idea was eventually scrapped, but the leaked build still includes this mechanic. Most of the movie is seen through a guy streaming this game, but is this really a game? Or is it real life? What didn’t feel real was the movie itself, but honestly, I appreciate the ambition on paper. An early build of a controversial VR game leaking is such a great premise, but Baby Invasion really wastes the idea. Pretty much, it’s just very dull compared to AGGRO DR1FT. The hypnotic quality of that movie, what I thought was going to be the hook to Korine’s EDGLRD projects, just wasn’t there. It’s ironic for a movie that has a throughline of hypnotism to just fail on that aspect. The actual production just feels cheap, with a lot of it seemingly going into the AI effects (again, ugh) and the music. Speaking of, the music might be the only positive besides the concept. Burial’s grimy score would’ve worked even more if Baby Invasion did have the immersive angle that AGGRO DR1FT does, and this would probably be unwatchable without it. That being said, the allure of EDGLRD projects aren’t tainted by this. I think this is a very ugly movie to watch, but someone might see treasure in this slop.


Ryan’s Grade: D+