Written and directed by Sasha Rainbow, co-written by Lee Murray, Mia Maramara and Hweiling Ow, a bright but socially awkward exchange student takes her craving for popularity to horrifying heights. Starring: Jess Hong, Joyena Sun, Eden Hart, Sepi To’a, Jared Turner, Xiao Hu and Ginette McDonald.
We’ve had a fair number of films where underappreciated, bullied or anxiety-ridden young people do some extreme things to up their popularity, but we’ve never seen it quite like Grafted. That’s both an excellent and a hindering thing because as a concept it’s so wonderfully ridiculous but it requires a heavy amount of suspended disbelief. Granted, it’s far-fetched to say the least to begin with but as things progress, it begins to ask you to overlook a few too many details which distracts from its bloody adventure.
Another distraction is how much time it dedicates to the usual teen drama, it stalls the film from getting going with its gore and greed. That’s really where the success lies for Grafted, because it really digs into the body horror feel as time goes on and it probably could have gone further. It’s pretty gruesome as it stands but it never feels like it fully lets loose, the focus remains on Wei’s thirst for acceptance. Although, there’s certainly a good commentary weaved throughout exploring how people can try so hard to be accepted, that they ultimately reject their own culture.
It’s a difficult combination to balance and it feels like if they’d established the drama nice and early, Grafted would have had more space to go absolutely nuts for the rest of the film because it definitely had the potential for it. Especially since the make-up and effects work is excellent, they capture the violence really well and there’s plenty of it to be found. A sure sign of the success of that work is always whether you want to look away, and it’s highly likely that you will feel the need. With perhaps the exception of skinless faces which look purely like they’ve been painted red.
Sasha Rainbow’s directorial style feels reminiscent of another Shudder release, Jennifer Reeder’s Perpetrator, it’s bold, colourful and bloody. There’s almost something decadent about it, it captures a 1980s style of altered reality, it’s an ever so slightly twisted version of our reality. Something that’s matched by the personality of Wei and the many forms she takes. Joyena Sun sets up this journey perfectly, she establishes how naïve, sweet but incredibly smart Wei is, and how desperate she is to be like everyone else and not feel like an outsider.
Jess Hong then brings a fierceness and does a great job of capturing how she takes the frustrations with her family life out on others. Eden Hart portrays the quintessential popular girl that will talk behind your back and judge everything you ever do, while making terrible, vain decisions of her own. Jared Turner’s Paul ticks every possible box you could have for being a creep, which to his credit you can feel immediately.
The surprise here is Sepi To’a who manages to create one of the only empathetic characters that Grafted has to offer. It’s really just a shame she doesn’t get a bigger role. While Ginette McDonald is the classic nosy neighbour who’s paying a little too much attention, her intrusions are another great addition. It’s a fantastic ensemble who all feed into the big energy that the film has to offer.
Grafted had a great, fun and warped idea but as the film moves forward, it’s asking you to smooth over a few too many details. It’s difficult to throw yourself into it when you’re questioning so much, which is a shame because if it had figured out a way to quiet those questions, it could have been exceptional. The style is strong, the performances are entertaining, and it plays well with the body horror theme. There’s a lot of potential at work for Sasha Rainbow’s debut feature but you’ll enjoy it a lot more if you can put ‘how’ and ‘why’ away in a drawer for ninety-six minutes.
FilmCarnage.com 