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Grafted (film)

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Grafted
Directed bySasha Rainbow
Written by
  • Lee Murray
  • Hweiling Ow
  • Mia Maramara
Produced by
  • Murray Francis
  • Charlie Kemball
  • Leela Menon
Starring
Running time
96 minutes


Grafted is a 2024 horror film directed by Sasha Rainbow and stars Joyena Sun as the leading actress.[1][2]

The film also stars Jess Hong, Eden Hart, Jared Turner, Sepi Toa, Mark Mitchinson, Ginette McDonald, Sam Wang, Trendall Pulini, Chloe Parker, Gideon Smith, Mohan Liu, Benjamin Hudson, Noah Davy, and Nimeti Akatere. The film follows an awkward but brilliant Chinese student (Joyena Sun) who wins a scholarship into a prestigious New Zealand University to study medical research.[3]

The film was primarily shot in Auckland, New Zealand. Murray Francis, Charlie Kemball, and Leela Menon produced the film, while Lee Murray, Hweiling Ow, and Mia Maramara were the writers. The film was released for streaming in January of 2025.

Plot

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As a fascinated child, Wei watches her scientist father Liu create an experimental skin graft formula he hopes will fix the facial deformity they both share. However, the living tissue he develops spreads across his mouth and nostrils, causing Liu to suffocate to death despite Wei furiously slashing at his face.

Continuing her father’s work as a gifted college student with low self-esteem because of her birthmark, Wei is sent from China to stay with her posh Aunty Ling and socialite cousin Angela in New Zealand so she can go to university on a science scholarship. Wei attends a biochemistry class taught by Dr. Featherstone alongside Angela and her popular friends Eve and Jasmine, but the other girls shun Wei as an outsider due to her appearance and unfamiliar customs regarding Chinese cuisine.

With his own research being rejected, Paul sees an opportunity to exploit Wei’s skin graft project, so he makes her his lab assistant. Meanwhile, Wei befriends a homeless man named John with whom she commiserates over his disfigured face.

Remembering that the rare corpse flower had a connection to her father’s work, Wei breaks into a botanical exhibit featuring the flower and steals a portion of the strange plant. By incorporating it into her father’s formula, Wei successfully creates living tissue from her leg with no adverse side effects.

While secretly having sex with Eve in an adjacent room, Paul sees Wei conducting her experiment. Wei proves to Paul that her formula works by showing him how she healed the self-inflicted wound on her inner thigh. Spying them from the other room, Eve mistakes their interaction as a sign of sexual attraction, which she jealously reports to Angela. Later, Eve humiliates Wei with a threat and abandons her at a remote cliffside.

Paul steals Wei’s notebook and sends it to a friend for translation. Paul also makes his own trip to the botanical exhibit to examine the exotic corpse flower.

Wei returns home to find that Angela, acting out of her own jealously as well as wanting revenge for Eve, destroyed Wei’s memorial for her father. Wei warns that their ancestors will now curse them as a physical fight ensues. During their struggle, Wei defensively stabs Angela in her eye and she dies.

Vowing to bring her cousin back, Wei carves off Angela’s face and uses her skin graft formula to seamlessly replace her own face. After stashing the dead body underneath a bed, Wei begins impersonating Angela by first fooling her aunt.

At school, Wei is distressed to discover she is expected to play a sport as Angela. Wei intentionally breaks her finger to get out of the activity.

During a date with Angela’s boyfriend Josh, Angela’s face unexpectedly falls off Wei. Josh backs away in fright and accidentally drops off a cliff to his death.

Realizing Paul stole her notebook, Wei demands he return it. Claiming ownership of the research, Paul refuses.

Envious of Eve’s beauty, Wei kills her with a power drill and begins wearing her face. As Eve, Wei tries seducing Paul to learn what he did with her research, and has an awkward encounter with Aunty Ling’s nosy neighbor Sheryl while disposing of Angela’s dismembered body, portions of which are eaten by Angela’s dog Bikke. Wei is also briefly questioned by two policemen looking to speak to Angela about Josh’s disappearance.

Wei notifies Student Affairs about Paul having an inappropriate relationship with a female student. Paul is forced to quit teaching, but he continues his own skin graft research based on Wei’s translated notes. After Paul recreates a vial of the formula, Wei steals it by continuing to pose as Eve.

Wei returns to her own face. Angela’s other friend Jasmine, who previously had a change of heart and had been encouraging Wei to be more self-confident, comes to the house. Afraid of her finding out everything that’s been going on after she discovers Eve’s severed head among body parts stored in the refrigerator, Wei suffocates Jasmine to death with Saran wrap.

Paul comes to house to confront Wei over the stolen vial. After capturing and restraining him, Wei bonds the living tissue to Paul’s face to physically torture him while she proclaims she will live a beautiful life where everyone will love her. Nosy neighbor Sheryl interrupts, forcing Wei to flee the house with the police in pursuit.

In a subway, Wei hides beneath a blanket with her homeless friend John. However, Wei spills the skin graft formula, which causes Wei and John to fuse into one grotesque mutant that continues living on the street while Wei is presumed missing and wanted for questioning in three gruesome deaths as well as Paul’s mutilation.

Critical reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 29 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Hoad, Phil (2025-01-21). "Grafted review – Face/Off-style skin-graft horror has layers of punky attitude". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  2. ^ Rife, Katie. "Grafted movie review & film summary (2025) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  3. ^ Gibbons, Ben (2025-01-24). "Grafted Review: Indie Body Horror Has Never Looked So Good As It Does In This Viscerally Twisted Shudder Movie". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  4. ^ "Grafted". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 22, 2025.