Grafted Shudder Horror Movie Review

“Grafted” is part of a wave of body-horror movies that embrace the intersections between the feminine and the grotesque. As such, it will inevitably—and fairly—be compared to “The Substance,” the most successful example of this recent trend. Like that movie, it takes a cartoonish pop-art approach to its material, which deals with feminine competition and beauty standards; as a result, it also has the subtlety of a baseball bat, or perhaps a hot curling iron. 

Both films share a thematic through line of jealousy between women, and the desire to literally inhabit the body of another person—in this case, a more popular cousin—to escape the shame of existing in a less-than-ideal female form. Here, the conflicts are between teenage girls, as Chinese student Wei (Joyena Sun) arrives in Auckland to live with her Aunty Ling (Xiao Hu) and cousin Angela (Jess Hong) while studying at a local university. 

Angela was born in New Zealand, and doesn’t speak a word of Chinese. She seems ashamed of her more “ethnic” cousin and freaks out when (for example) Wei orders chicken feet at a Chinese restaurant in front of Angela’s ethnically diverse group of friends. This is, of course, unfair, and it’s sad that Angela feels so disconnected from her ancestry. But the movie doesn’t have much (or any) sympathy for her, saving it all for Jasmine (Sepi To’a), the only member of the clique who shows any kindness towards the awkward Wei. 

This is all setup for the main body-swap storyline, as is another subplot involving Eve (Eden Hart), the third head on Angela’s mean-girl hydra, and her affair with the professor who’s stealing credit for Wei’s work. At her core, Wei is a mad-scientist character in the tradition of Angela Bettis’ “May” or AnnaLyne McCord in 2012’s “Excision,” obsessed with carrying on her deceased father’s experiments in skin-grafting technology. (Wei doesn’t deserve to be bullied, but the surgery photos on her wall are pretty weird.) These threads don’t come together until midway through, which is a bit too late to really get caught up in the story. 

The pacing is uneven, and “Grafted” speeds through its second half in a blur of scientific intrigue, dismembered body parts, syringes filled with pink goop, and scalpels cutting through rubbery bits of flesh. There are a few colorful details, like the hole in the wall of Aunty Ling’s living room and the “corpse flower” that activates Wei’s serum. (Because it’s got “corpse” in the name? Whatever, it doesn’t matter.) Director Sasha Rainbow has an eye for composition, and keeps the visual style of the film tight enough to successfully distinguish between bubblegum girliness and overt camp—both of which contrast nicely with the goop and the gore. 

One element that stands out in “Grafted’s” rushed second half is the performances of the adolescent leads, three of whom must take on each other’s mannerisms, voices, and personalities while maintaining the impression that they’re struggling to play themselves. (To’a just has to play one character.) This involves another fine line, this one a three-way shift between pathos, terror, and comedy; each actor excels at one of them (Sun pathos, Hong terror, and Hart comedy) but all mimic each other convincingly, a testament to the strength of Rainbow’s direction and the closeness of the cast. 

“Grafted” is more of a B-movie than “The Substance,” with stylish direction but few pretensions towards being art. It’s the kind of movie where text will appear on the screen as a character reads an article explaining what’s going on in the plot, the kind of solid programmer that takes its audience for a slick and satisfying ride without challenging them too much. It’s going to Shudder, where it will make for an enjoyable, if inconsequential, movie night for teen girls and gorehounds—two groups that, delightfully, overlap a little more every year. 

Katie Rife

Katie Rife is a freelance writer and critic based in Chicago with a speciality in genre cinema. She worked as the News Editor of The A.V. Club from 2014-2019, and as Senior Editor of that site from 2019-2022. She currently writes about film for outlets like Vulture, Rolling Stone, Indiewire, Polygon, and RogerEbert.com.

Grafted

Horror
star rating star rating
93 minutes 2025

Cast

subscribe icon

The best movie reviews, in your inbox