Grafted is a twisty, personal, and nonchalantly grotesque body-horror film about retaining beauty at all costs. Following Chinese exchange student Mei (Joyena Sun) as she traverses student life in New Zealand living with her aunt and bratty cousin Angela (Jess Hong), viewers watch as she struggles to fit in anywhere because of genetic birthmarks across her chin and cheeks. As a child, her scientist father Liu (Sam Wang), suffering from even larger birthmarks, tries to solve their problems via experimental skin grafting. They end up growing at a limitless rate when applied to his irregularities, growing all over his mouth, eyes and nose, and suffocating him in front of his 8-year-old daughter. Partnering with school scientist Paul (Jared Turner) roughly a decade later, Mei continues her father’s research to a level of success using a plant called the Corpse flower, which can be used as adhesive to place other living tissue over affected areas. Angry towards Angela and her fake friends that do nothing but put Mei down, they become perfect tools for her to “fix her ugliness.” Whether she wants a new face, new skin color, or hairstyle, she gives these bitches fatal stitches to literally wear their skin herself. In this Audition meets American Psycho gore porn, beauty is everything—for women cannot be anything less in this plastic, piggishly male-run world.

Grafted, though not entirely fleshed out (pun very much intended) narratively, is the rare modern horror pic where you don’t care about knowing the ending because the lead-up is too gruesome—and boy oh boy is this graphic. From beginning to end, viewers are treated to a unique kind of gore; reminiscent of food shots in your local restaurant ads, each skin peel, cut, and mutilation instills near-seductive spinal shivers throughout. Coming to understand Mei—portrayed with a shy, fastidious delusionality by Sun and coy, surreptitious ambition by Hong later—is like coming to understand the insane; her trauma bleeds vividly, though the craziness cannot excuse the cruelty. Because while some of the trauma is generationally shared with her dad, she experiences it tenfold as a woman. Despite international social progression (or lack thereof, hence a case in point), female beauty is still a large facet—and consequence—of succeeding in life.

Pretty privilege exists across the spectrum, but women or at least femininely presenting people are expected to look good. Look at female news anchors, CEOs, even nation leaders, and there’s a big difference between their presentations and that of male counterparts. Mei experiences this everywhere she looks. As soon as Mei’s Aunty Lingy (Xiao Hu) sees her birthmarks, she stiffly wraps her niece’s scarf tighter: “What a pretty scarf. You know what? I sell excellent concealer products which can cover it right up!“ Birthmarks wouldn’t be bad if they made you ugly, but even though viewers may feel indifferent, Mei’s loved ones and friends see a hideous foreign orphan. That’s what Angela reminds her as well: “Why don’t you take your weird Chinese, shit and go home?!” Angela belts before fists swing. Despite some pluses—like an albeit underdeveloped, secret friendship with Angela’s friend Jasmine (Sepi To’a)—Mei is isolated by her looks, and the only way forward in her mind is to continue her father’s research and kill off those who do her wrong for skin to make her beautiful. Upgraded first by Angela’s popularity and later Angela’s other friend Eve’s (Eden Hart) whiteness in a clever racial analysis by director Sasha Rainbow, wearing others’ skin makes her get what she was always told she’s meant to aim for: praise and privilege.

Unfortunately, while these fulfilling themes are extensive—and the gore insane, especially as Mei cuts up victims reminiscent of Takashi Miike’s Audition in clothing, visuals and tone whilst monologuing like American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman—it takes a while to get there. Grafted’s first 40 minutes are as plastic as the societal values it questions. While the visuals are great, much time is spent with characters essentially explaining how you’re supposed to feel. For example, when Paul asks why Mei wants to research her father’s outlawed work, she says something to the effect of because she wants to be beautiful. Not long after, Paul and Eve—teacher and student—are revealed to have sexual relations for her grade. This is not only the third or fourth time Mei says she wants to be beautiful, but the relationship makes it feel overkill. There’s nothing alternative to pick up than what’s said on screen: because Eve’s more attractive than Mei, Eve gets more benefits. There’s a little exploration of Paul and Eve’s dynamic—“A word of advice Eve: you’re not gonna get very far… [with] your brain.… So just, y’know, sit there like a good little girl, and let me do my fucking work,” Paul exclaims as the pair share his bed—but not enough to satisfactorily show how conventional beauty just makes Eve more attractive to manipulate. Because the beginning runs like this until Mei’s first kill, it’s hard to maintain investment until then. Beyond that, though, Grafted is an intersectionally aware, sufficiently evocative, and visually gross (in the best way) body horror flick. For body horror fans or those looking for more than scares, Grafted cuts deep after a while.

Premieres on Shudder and AMC+ Friday, 1/24