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Exploring the Rising Trend of Satirical Body Horror in Film
The past year has witnessed a resurgence in satirical body horror, highlighted by critically acclaimed titles like The Substance and A Different Man. This subgenre, once a staple of 1980s cinema, is now captivating horror enthusiasts with its unique blend of grotesque storytelling and social commentary. Continuing this trend, October 2024 saw the release of Grafted, a compelling new addition to the genre, streaming on Shudder. Directed by Sasha Rainbow, this film not only delves into the realm of body horror but also offers a poignant coming-of-age narrative centered on a Chinese immigrant grappling with familial legacies and identity.
Release Date: September 12, 2024
Runtime: 93 minutes
Director: Sasha Rainbow
Writers: Hweiling Ow
Producers: Murray Francis, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Fraser Brown, Daniel Negret
In Grafted, the protagonist Wei (played by Joyena Sun) relocates to New Zealand after earning a scholarship to a prestigious university. Staying with her aunt and cousin, she is determined to perfect a skin grafting technique initiated by her father to address their shared facial deformity. Throughout her journey, Wei struggles with feelings of alienation and low self-esteem while attempting to cultivate connections with her cousin and her social circle. However, this struggle only breeds chaos and isolation.
How Wei’s Experiment Went Horribly Awry
Wei’s ambition to complete her father’s unfinished scientific work becomes all-consuming. Her father had previously developed a skin graft intended to seamlessly mask their shared imperfections, but the experiment ended tragically when it suffocated him, bonding too aggressively with his skin. Motivated by her desire for acceptance and healing, Wei aims to refine the grafting process. However, her plans unravel when her professor, Paul (Jared Turner), betrayingly appropriates her father’s research notes, undermining Wei’s efforts.
In a desperate bid to harness her father’s discoveries without the original journal, Wei’s attempts initially show promise. Unfortunately, due to the absence of a critical bonding agent, the graft fails catastrophically, leading to gruesome consequences.
Why Wei Assumes Angela’s Identity
The situation escalates when Wei discovers that her cousin, Angela (Jessica Hong), has vandalized a memorial to her deceased father, culminating in a violent confrontation. In a moment of desperation, Wei inadvertently kills Angela and conceals the body to escape immediate repercussions. This tragic event marks the beginning of Wei’s transformation, as she resorts to utilizing her skin grafting knowledge to wear Angela’s face, employing it as a disguise to maintain her cover and to {attempt to} assimilate into Angela’s life.
As Wei adopts Angela’s identity, she meticulously studies her mannerisms and social interactions, all in a bid to fit into a world she feels estranged from. However, even with a physical transformation, the emotional and psychological toll of her actions begins to unravel her sanity.
Why Wei Assumes Eve’s Identity
Things take a darker turn when Angela’s friend, Eve (Eden Hart), becomes suspicious. After a successful ruse, Wei finds herself committing further violence, killing Eve to stave off exposure. As she dons Eve’s identity next, Wei begins to manipulate Eve’s connections, particularly her relationship with Paul, allowing her to infiltrate his academic world. Doing so not only aids Wei in seeking revenge but also provides access to the journal she needs to complete her father’s groundbreaking work.
As Wei becomes increasingly reckless, her façade begins to crumble. Whatever remnants of her original self dissipate as she pursues her objectives with ruthless determination.
Who Does Wei Become at the End?
By the film’s climax, the boundary between Wei’s identity and those she has assumed blurs disturbingly. In a desperate act, she confronts Paul, whom she ties down and prepares to further her grotesque skin grafting practices on. The arrival of a neighbor forces her to flee, setting off a chaotic series of events that ultimately leads to her physical and existential transformation.
To evade capture, Wei’s frantic escape leads her to a subway station where an unexpected encounter with a homeless man culminates in a gruesome and surreal merging of their identities. This final metamorphosis reflects the ultimate fate of a character consumed by desperation, leaving her with a new and fractured identity—resulting from the very horror she sought to escape.
Grafted stands out within the modern body horror landscape by confronting themes of family, identity, and the lengths one will go to find acceptance. As the subgenre continues to evolve, films like Grafted serve to remind audiences of the profound psychological depths and societal critiques embedded within the world of horror.
Source
movieweb.com