District 9 director Neill Blomkamp has faced significant criticism after releasing a 13-minute zombie film made entirely using AI. The filmmaker shared the short, titled Nightborne, on YouTube over the weekend, describing it as the first “full test AI film” he has produced.

Presented in the style of a documentary, the film follows a US Army pilot who is shot down and declared dead during a mission in Syria. Her husband buries an empty coffin, but recovered footage reveals that she was enrolled in a classified military programme that uses implants to return dead soldiers to the battlefield.

Nightborne is the first release from Barley Studios, a new AI-focused film studio founded by Blomkamp. According to the video’s description, every frame was generated using ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 model, with Blomkamp directing the film “shot by shot” through text prompts. Blomkamp explained on social media that he now intends to use the technology to make a full-length film.

“I’ve been experimenting with AI for a couple of years,” he stated. “It’s now at the point where I want to tackle a full feature in this format. This is a 13-minute test start. It was made with real concept artists, and features the faces and voices of 32 real people. Barley Studios will be my new AI studio for creating my own films, the way Oats Studios was for traditional film and VFX.”

Responses to the short have been largely negative, with viewers criticizing inconsistencies in the AI-generated visuals, dialogue, and disjointed camera movements. “No thank you. What a crazy fall from grace for such a beloved filmmaker,” one person wrote beneath the YouTube video. Another user on X remarked: “Wow Neill, thank you for showing us that even in the hands of an established director, AI slop looks indistinguishable from everyone else’s AI slop.”

Others questioned why the director was working with generative AI instead of pursuing the long-discussed sequel to District 9. “Bro, we just wanted District 10,” one comment read, while another said: “Waited 17 years for District 10, and now this? Come on, man.”

wow Neill thank you for showing us that even in the hands of an established director AI slop looks indistinguishable from everyone else's AI slop!

— Is this a 3D model? (@IsThisA3DModel) July 20, 2026

Waited 17 years for District 10, and now this? Come on, man.

— Adam Hlaváč (@adamhlavac) July 20, 2026

Blomkamp has not yet publicly responded to the criticism. Released in 2009, District 9 was Blomkamp’s first feature film, earning four Oscar nominations. In 2021, he confirmed he was writing a sequel with star Sharlto Copley and co-writer Terri Tatchell, though he noted at the time that he had previously struggled to find a justifiable reason to return to that world.