- Directed by Sasha Rainbow
- Written by Lee Murray, Sasha Rainbow, Mia Maramara
- Stars Eden Hart, Jess Hong, Jared Turner
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qozmgT0k0sM
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s an interesting idea and well made in every way. There are some unbelievable points that we had a hard time getting past, but it’s fun overall. We’d give it a moderate thumbs up.
Spoilery Synopsis
Wei, a little girl in China, talks about how corpse flowers work. They make themselves smelly to attract flies. She then feeds a mouse to a snake and then talks to her father about fixing his face; he’s got a large birthmark on his face, and so does his daughter. He works in his lab to make skin grafts. His does work, a little too well, as it grows right over his mouth and nose, sealing them shut. He cuts his face open with a scalpel, and it grows right back. He eventually suffocates as Wei takes over frantically slashing at him. Credits roll.
Wei is grown up now. Her family considers her a monster because of her face, so she packs up and goes to university in New Zealand. She wants to become a scientist like her father. She goes to stay with her very chatty Aunt Ling and cousin Angela in Auckland.
On the first day of school, Wei talks to John, a homeless man who looks terribly burned. She soon becomes a lab assistant for her professor, Paul.
At home, Angela has her friends Eve and Jasmine, over, and they laugh at Wei’s weird Chinese ways and get grossed out over her collection of medical photos.
We see that Paul’s funding is about to be cancelled, and he’s only got two weeks to resubmit something.
Wei watches Angela’s friends and pretends to emulate them, with very poor effects. She invites them to a Chinese restaurant and Wei orders chicken feet, which is surprisingly unpopular. She blames their treatment of her on her birthmark, which isn’t really that bad.
Paul invites Wei to work on her father’s research in his lab. They get right on it, and he starts reporting his work on skin grafting between makeout sessions with Eve. Jasmine comes in and also gets a job as a second lab assistant.
Wei remembers about the corpse flower, and that had some part in his work. She breaks into the museum and takes a sample of the flower to use in her work. She tries it on her leg, and it works!
Paul looks at Wei’s healed-up leg, and Eve takes a photo of them in a compromising position. Paul makes copies of Wei’s father’s notebook while Eve drops Wei off in the middle of nowhere.
Wei goes home and finds her shrine to her father has been ransacked by Angela, and the two girls fight. This ends with Angela being killed. Wei cuts off Angela’s face and injects it with her formula before putting it on her own face. The “magic” graft works quickly, and now Wei looks just like Angela. She hides Angela’s body under the bed.
Auntie Ling comes home, and she makes up with “Angela.” She leaves soon after on a business trip, giving “Angela” time to learn how to talk like an Aussie and walk in heels. Meanwhile, Paul and Eve talk about why he really keeps Eve around (it’s not for her brain).
When it’s time for Angela’s sports team, Wei breaks her own finger to get out of participating. She then hangs out with Jasmine and Eve, who tell her all their secrets. She then goes on a date with Angela’s boyfriend, whose name she doesn’t even know.
Suddenly, Angela’s face falls off, which shocks the boyfriend into falling off a cliff to his death.
Paul figures out about the corpse flower, but he gets some juice from a dying plant. He admits to Wei that he stole her work, which gets her angry. She sees Eve outside and gets an idea. She lures Eve home, one thing leads to another, and soon, with some hair color and contacts, Wei looks like Eve.
The police come by, looking for Angela and Wei, and they smell something wrong in the house right away. She manages to distract them into ignoring the smell and leaving.
After class the next day, Eve/Wei goes to visit Paul at home. She uses Eve’s phone to send that compromising photo to Student Affairs, especially now that Wei has disappeared. He’s arrested and ends up quitting his job.
Wei works to dispose of Angela and Eve’s bodies, but the noisy little dog draws in neighbor Sheryl.
Paul continues his work on his own, and he finally makes it work. Eve-Wei goes over and steals his formula. She goes home and peels off Eve’s face.
Jasmine comes over and wonders why Wei has blond hair and is wearing Eve’s dress. Jasmine is nice, but she sees more than she should; Wei kills her.
Paul notices his formula is gone and goes to Wei’s home to get it back. He knows what she’s done. He still plans on taking credit for Wei and her father’s work. She sedates Paul and knocks him out.
He wakes up all mutilated, but Wei offers to give him a taste of the skin graft. Like her father, it seals up his nose and mouth, but in his case, she gives him a straw. Sheryl hears the screams and calls the police. Wei runs away to the train station.
Wei comes upon John off to the side, and he helps her hide. The formula gets broken and injected by way of the broken glass, and Wei and John… merge.
Aunt Ling sees Wei on the street, but it’s not really her. Then she sees a deformed monster, WeiJohn out on the street.
Sheryl, on the other hand, takes the little dog home and is happy ever after.
Brian’s Commentary
Well, that was weird. I don’t think skin grafting works at all like that. Besides, Wei, Angela, and Eve all had very different body types, so would anyone actually believe they were who they pretended to be? It’s not so realistic, but it’s still fun.
This may have the most obnoxious dog in any movie, and he’s the only one with a happy ending.
Kevin’s Commentary
It was pushing it for Wei to impersonate Angela, but it wasn’t at all believable she could impersonate Eve who was taller, thinner, and paler. Just swapping face skin wouldn’t be enough to become that person. The underlying bone structure and muscles are different. But looking past that, it was well made all around, had good special effects, and an interesting story. I’d give it a moderate thumbs up in total.
Be the first to comment on "2024 Grafted"