420 Movie Marathon (2024 Titles)

Regardless if you partake in 420 or April 20th festivities or not, it happens to be on Sunday this year and upcoming weekends provide an opportunity to rest and recharge. Personally my rest and recharge includes horror movies, in particular new movies I haven't watched yet. Two movies I recommend for the upcoming weekend festivities are both Shudder exclusives: Grafted and MadS both of which came out in 2024.

GRAFTED 2024

Grafted, a New Zealand body horror film, directed by Sasha Rainbow came out on Shudder in 2025. The film was written by Mia Maramara, Hweiling Ow, Lee Murray, and Sasha Rainbow and produced by Murray Francis and Leela Menon. Wei, the main character, is played by Joyena Sun and the film opens with her and her father. They both have a birth defect on their face and neck that he is attempting to resolve through medical research of skin grafting.

His lab is kind of funky, definitely seems off-grid and he’s using corpse flowers. Her father uses himself as a test subject which works…a little too well. The serum makes his skin grow over his nose and mouth which causes him to suffocate, leaving Wei an orphan. Flash forward to present day and Wei is moving from China to New Zealand to live with her father’s sister whom Wei calls Aunty Ling played by Xiao Hu. Things are awkward between the two, having a distant relationship for what seems to be a long time.

Things don’t get better for Wei however because she has won a scholarship to the same school that her cousin attends—Angela aka Angie, played by Jess Hong, and unfortunately, her cousin is a bitch. Angie is friends with two girls their age, Eve played by Eden Hart and Jasmine played by Sepi To’a, who are also bitches. As is usually the case however  teenaged quote-unquote “bitches” are acting out because they are going through things in their own lives.

Example we learn that Eve is having a relationship with their professor, Paul played by Jared Turner, who Wei also takes a liking to because of his scientific achievements and believes he can help her finish her father’s research. Wei is successful in her endeavor after she uses corpse flower, a flower that rarely blooms and smells like a rotting corpse when it does, in combination with her father’s serum. Without giving too much away, what you think Wei uses the perfected serum for is not what she uses the serum for.

Early on we see that Wei is willing to go to great lengths to test and perfect the serum including slicing chunks of her leg off with a cheese slicer looking tool. It is the first glimpse outside of the intro events we get of body horror but the film is full of scenes that make your stomach and mind turn. Grafted has elements of the darker side of womanhood throughout and how we treat different people based on factors like nationality, race, and status.

Wei is the canvas through which we see these challenges play out on but each character is a vivid representation of a possible archetype in a young woman’s life. There are her peers she has conflict with, a close female relative who she has competition, jealousy and/or conflict with, the no good older man who’s not worth the trouble to any of the women fighting over him, and matriarchal figures who are not quite what she expects or needs them to be.

There are deeper things going on beneath the gore is what I’m saying, which keeps you interested and watching even when you’re taken aback by the special effects or rising action. The plot line didn’t go the way I expected at all and left me shocked.

MADS 2024

French movie called MadS that came out in 2024 and is available on Shudder now. Teenager Romain played by Milton Riche is setting out to celebrate his birthday and stops by his drug dealers to pick up a new drug.

From rip this movie is unique and stunning in the regard it is a continuous shot from start to finish, including Romaine driving home from his drug dealer’s place in the country. The entire movie I kept repeating, “What the fuck?!,” in the way you want to say it while watching a movie.

The concept of a continuous shot horror movie is flawlessly executed despite additions of special effects and costume design including blood and wounds. We are treated to various sets and the journeys the actors take between them all maintaining a continuous shot. Actors make the transitions fluid with performances that defy what seems possible from a continuous sequence. Bloody handprints and splatter are added to sets while we travel around town, elements blend together to make even the viewer question reality while the teens have the worst trip of their life.

Smart design and careful planning make for a treat to what the fuck over and over again that feels like a night from hell that just won’t end. Nothing that happened was what I expected to happen once we leave the drug dealer’s house at the start of the film, everything after that blew my mind.

Each time I thought that the bounds of a continuous shot would stop the movie from going somewhere the movie would go there or go even past there. My heart raced, my hands clenched, I shouted “WHAT?!” at the TV countless times in particular when a flawless transition was executed from story to scenery.

This is such a wild ride that sharing too much could take some of the fun out of it so I won’t go too into spoilers beyond what’s already been said. I’ve watched this movie twice now and loved it even more the second time, noticing little details that the had shown up throughout the various scenes and leading characters that I hadn’t noticed the first time.

I forgot I was watching a French language or international-for-me film while watching, finding that language wasn’t a barrier to getting the plot or being scared of the movie itself. More than once I hid in the collar of my sweatshirt while tense and unexpected action played out on screen. MadS is a flat out good movie, especially when you’re celebrating the festivities of the 4/20 season, but be warned it is a mind bending ride…literally.