MY CALL: Combining elements of foreign horror, Face/Off (1997), and Re-Animator (1985) give this directorial debut much quirky spunk. MORE MOVIES LIKE Grafted: Not much). For more New Zealand horror, try Bad Taste (1987), Dead-Alive (1992), Black Sheep (2006), Housebound (2014), Deathgasm (2015) and What We Do in the Shadows (2015). For more regeneration-gone-wrong horror, I’d recommend Re-Animator (1985), Rejuvenator (1988), Death Becomes Her (1992), and The Substance (2024).
The daughter of a medical researcher, Wei (Joyena Sun) bears a large, discolored birthmark on her face. The opening death scene is an entertaining spectacle of an experimental skin graft-gone-wrong that regeneratively expands to seal its recipient’s mouth and nostrils shut, leading to her father’s death. Some time after losing her father to a horrible biomedical accident, she moves to New Zealand to live with her cousin (Jess Hong; 3 Body Problem) and aunt (Xiao Hu) for college.
Wei tries to make new friends, and does so in the nicest ways. But her culture, interests, and even her food are off-putting to these Kiwi-brand Mean Girls. So Wei’s only support comes from her professor (Jared Turner; 30 Days of Night).
Playing a bit off the aged coattails of Re-Animator (1985), Wei has her father’s research notebook and intends to continue this research as a lab assistant under her professor. And also like Re-Animator (1985), her academic superior aims to steal her research for personal gain.
Some Mean Girls blackmail her, a girlfight-turned accidental death transpires, a little medical self-mutilation, and some ad-hoc experimentation take the movie in an interesting direction. Throw in some Face/Off-esque (1997) face swapping and identity theft, and we have a proper vehicle for some catty-motivated revenge. Yeah, it gets weird.
This film offers a refreshing cultural crossover—the kind we need more often. Many of the characters speak Mandarin, the film takes place mostly in New Zealand, and it was written and directed by women. In fact, this was director Sasha Rainbow’s first feature film. This film is very well made, decently written and acted, and has just enough gore gags and murder to maintain good pacing. Pretty nice job!