In an age where physical appearance reigns supreme, how far would you go to attain society’s warped ideals of beauty? That’s the skin-crawling question posed by Grafted, a grisly new addition to the Shudder library that fuses Face/Off-style body horror with a healthy dose of punky ‘tude.
Directed by newcomer Sasha Rainbow, Grafted follows Chinese expat student Wei (Joyena Sun) as she arrives in New Zealand seeking to continue her late father’s controversial work in experimental skin grafting. Crippled by insecurity over a facial birthmark, the brilliant but socially awkward Wei resolves to crack the code on flawless flesh, hoping to honor her dad’s legacy and boost her own self-image in the process.
Beauty Is Pain
But Wei’s obsessive quest soon takes a dark turn after she moves in with her image-obsessed cousin Angela (Jess Hong) and catches the eye of a sleazy professor (Jared Turner) eager to exploit her father’s incomplete research. Driven to unspeakable extremes in her pursuit of perfection, Wei’s experiments begin to blur the line between science and sadism, building to a mind-bending climax of grisly body mods and Face/Off-esque identity swaps.
Rather than dwelling on a psychological sob story, Rainbow allows Wei just cause for the coming butchery by cartoonishly milking the horrors of her vapid social circle.
– Phil Hoad, The Guardian
While Grafted may lack the poetic trauma of its spiritual forebear Eyes Without a Face, Rainbow keeps things lively with a wicked streak of pitch-black humor. Scenes of the ghoulish Angela preening before an altar of Barbie dolls or another vapid beauty named Eve (of course) espousing the gospel of Kardashian contouring lend a campy edge to the proceedings, even as Wei’s self-mutilation veers into Martyrs territory.
More Than Skin Deep
Admittedly, some additional subtext amid the film’s squishy effects showcase wouldn’t have gone amiss. Wei’s gruesome cultural assimilation quest certainly seems ripe for further exploration. But Grafted still manages to make its gory set-pieces stick, thanks in large part to the go-for-broke commitment of its game cast.
As the not-so-good doctor herself, Sun brings surprising nuance to Wei’s unraveling, hinting at the guilt and inadequacy gnawing beneath her ever-more-polished veneer. Hong likewise tears into the part of the appearance-obsessed Angela with a deranged gusto worthy of vintage John Waters.
- Channels darkly comic Neon Demon vibes with its biting take on beauty-industrial complex
- Splattery climax blends bonkers Body Snatchers ingenuity with giddy Tokyo Gore Police excess
Granted, those seeking profound insights into the mutating nature of self-image in the social media age may come away unsatisfied. But for fans of audacious body horror eager to see some sacred cows get kicked right in the collagen, Grafted offers a sickly satisfying slice of the old ultraviolence.
