Spoiler-Free Review of “Grafted” on Shudder: Shocking and Stomach-Turning!

*This is a spoiler-free review so feel free to read on!*

“With a new face become the real you…”

Grafted premiered on Shudder on January 24th 2025. The body horror film (directed by Sasha Rainbow) stars Joyena Sun, Jess Hong, Jared Turner, and Eden Hart. It runs for approximately an hour and thirty-five minutes.

After losing her father, a socially awkward girl named Wei goes to live with her aunt and cousin while studying on scholarship in New Zealand. After accepting a research assistant role in a lab, she begins to further her father’s research to find a way to make others beautiful, but it backfires on her with deadly consequences.

Here is the trailer:

Grafted is a gruesome mix of The Substance and It’s What’s Inside, grabbing hold of its audience with its shocking content and never letting go. Is it worthy of YOUR next watch? Let’s find out…

The Pros:

Images courtesy of Shudder

A disturbing premise with twisted Mean Girls flair.

I was completely drawn in by this one. I loved the Mean Girls angle. This film had so many clever nods at Heathers and Jawbreaker while carving out its own dark identity.

Similar to The Substance, this film had a lot to say about the way society views beauty in others, making this a compelling watch with an important message behind it.

P.S. Bikkie the dog is a scene stealer!

Images courtesy of Shudder

Gross body horror (if that’s your thing).

It was a little too much for me personally, but if you enjoy films with extreme body horror, you’ll get plenty of that in this one. I wouldn’t recommend watching this while eating and I had second thoughts about my face mask after watching this…

The Cons:

Images courtesy of Shudder

A film I’ve seen before.

Don’t get me wrong…I really enjoyed this one, but in a lot of ways it felt like a watered down version of movies I’ve seen before. However, it follows that formula well enough in a unique way so this wasn’t a major con for me.

So am I in or out?

Images courtesy of Shudder

I’m in!!!

GRAFTED is a disturbing and jaw-dropping watch that has A LOT to say.

I hope you enjoyed the review and feel free to post your own thoughts and theories on Grafted in the comments section below. Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!

Best,

Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl

This competition is killer…

When former friends, Shay and Adriana team up to participate in a Halloween scavenger hunt with a cash prize, they temporarily put their differences aside to outsmart their opponents. However, they soon start to realize that a dangerous threat is playing their own version of the game, stalking them during each hunt.

Winning is now a necessity as their lives are at stake. As old wounds and memories re-surface, Shay and Adriana attempt to unmask the threat before the night is over, but soon learn that Scream Hunt is not done with them just yet…

My young adult horror thriller is out now! I hope you enjoy!

Scream Hunt is available here!

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Spoiler-Free Review of “What We Do In The Shadows” FX Series Premiere: Fangtastically Funny

Happy Friday TV Fans!  The wait is over and What We Do In The Shadows is finally here!  The show is based on the film of the same name from 2014 and it is brought to us by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement.  If you are not familiar with the movie, it is a mockumentary following a group of vampires living together in New Zealand.  FX was awesome enough to actually play the movie the day before the series premiered, which gave me time to re-watch it and enjoy the campy horror fun.  I mean, seriously there were so many bloody dishes to clean…

If you are a fan of the film, you will absolutely fall in love with the series as well, which now takes place in Staten Island, New York.  Love that!  Even if you have never seen the film before, you will enjoy the series, which is kind of like The Office if it followed vampires.  In the series, we follow a different group of vampires, but it is set in the same universe as the movie, which means a crossover is not out of the question.  Fingers crossed!  The series introduces us to Nandor, Laszlo, Nadja, and their human familiar, Guillermo.  However, my personal favorite was an energy sucking vampire named Colin, who can bore everyone to death with dull conversation starters, which is probably the funniest part of the show so far.

Overall, I thought that the series premiere had a lot of potential and provided us with some really funny moments, especially the grocery store scene, which was laugh out loud hilarious.  Not all of the jokes landed for me, but I had the same issue with the film, so I think it comes down to comedy preference, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  However, there is a void right now in horror comedies, as shows like Ash vs Evil Dead, Stan Against Evil, and Scream Queens have all been canceled.  I still don’t get why, but that means that there is definitely room for What We Do In The Shadows to provide us with some much needed horror comedy.  We will get 10 episodes of the first season and I’m looking forward to some bloody brilliant comedy for sure!

I hope you enjoyed the review and feel free to post your own thoughts on What We Do In The Shadows in the comments section below.  Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!

**I am so excited to announce that my book, The Search for Alice, is now available!  If you enjoy dark fantasy, fairy-tale retellings, paranormal romance, horror, and mystery, then this might be the book for you or someone you know!  Thank you for taking the time to check it out and I appreciate any feedback as well.  I hope you enjoy!

The Search for Alice is available here!

The Search for Alice Feb 2019

Free Instant Preview of The Search for Alice is available here!

Best,

Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl

@TV_Fanatic_Girl

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**If you enjoyed this blog, I would love it if you would click the follow button on your way out to subscribe.  Thanks for your support!

Do you love horror series?  Of course you do!  Please also check out 12 Nights of Horror Series Coming Soon.  It’s your home for everything you need to know about new and returning horror television series including new trailers, premiere dates, reviews, recaps, and renewals!