Tags:
Film: Touch Me
Year: 2025
Director: Addison Heimann
Writer: Addison Heimann
Starring: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Lou Taylor Pucci and Jordan Gavaris
Review:
This was a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Amelia from Strike Media. She sent over the press release and the bit of information that I saw, I agreed to check out for review. What truly caught my attention was that this starred Lou Taylor Pucci. He’s an actor that I know from the Evil Dead remake and Spring. Other than that, I confirmed this was a wide release horror film for 2026. I saw this would have aliens and it was also a comedy.
Synopsis: two codependent best friends become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist who may or may not be trying to take over the world.
We start this with Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) in therapy. Dr. Kelly (Ashley Lauren Nedd) asks her to tell a fictional story that she immerses herself in. Now she doesn’t actually do this. What she does is tell a widely fantastical story about an alien that she had sex with and how the relationship inadvertently became toxic.
Joey then goes home to the place that she shares with Craig (Jordan Gavaris). Now he’s a trust fund kid. He’s never truly worked and has a degree in philosophy. He needs Joey to constantly build up his self-esteem, because he is self-deprecating. They are just living on the money provided to him by his family, which includes the money for the therapist that Joey sees.
There is then an incident that disrupts everything. There is a plumbing issue and it backs up feces into their shower. Joey decides to get a job, as she saw a ‘Help Wanted’ sign at the coffee shop she goes to. The problem is that she saw the alien there, Brian (Pucci). She comes home to tell Craig that she got the job. He also tells her that he called his father. He’s required to go to a family reunion and he’ll be given 5 grand. The problem is that neither did what they said and are no closer to getting the money to fix this problem.
Joey then reveals that Brian reached out, asking her to come back to his vacation home for the weekend. She invites Craig to join. They arrive and the place is huge. They go out to a patio to find Brian doing hip-hop dancing along with his assistant, Laura (Marlene Forte). Craig is shocked by Brian’s body. He knows roughly what Brian did to Joey but is entranced by what he sees.
To provide more backstory: Brian claims to be an alien seeking to save Earth from the same greenhouse gas-driven demise as his home world. He maintains control by easing human tensions through physical pleasure, though his true form is a large, tentacled creature. After seducing both Joey and Craig, a web of deceit and mistrust forms among the group, compounded by Laura's own dark past and her dislike for Joey.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is an oddball movie. It is lighthearted thanks to the comedy and situations that we see. There are heavy concepts though when it comes to the backstory of all our human characters. It dabbles in horror with the creature and what it does to people. It just goes a bit too off the wall for it to fully work, but that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy my time here.
Now that I’ve set that up, the character analysis begins with Joey. The film effectively establishes her backstory, showing her quitting two jobs for Brian before a rough sexual encounter drives her away. She rationalizes his behavior as alien naivety yet finds his touch addictive. As the narrative progresses, we learn of her traumatic foster care upbringing and unresolved past. Dudley delivers a strong performance, successfully bringing this complex protagonist to life.
I’ll then shift over to Craig. From the start of meeting him, we learn that due to his spoiled upbringing, he’s never had any true responsibility. He just lives off his allowance and coasts through life. He clings to an incident from when he was younger as a crutch. I’m not saying what happened to him is horrible. The problem though is that he’s not growing and healing from it. In a similar vein, we have Laura, who we learn was in a religious cult before breaking away. This does well in making all these characters complicated, credited to the performances of Gavaris and Forte.
Let’s then look at the situation itself. The framing event that we hear about is told from the point of view of Joey. She seems to mostly believe Brian, but there is that doubt. When he hurts her, she makes excuses for it. When she’s had time away, she doesn’t trust how he makes her feel, knowing that it uses its calming ability to cloud her decision making. Then when financial elements force her back, we see that there is manipulation from all parties involved. What I love is that we don’t know who we can trust. I quite enjoyed this element.
Then other themes to bring up that this is a solid allegory for the euphoric feeling that drugs give you. We also see trying to distance yourself from that feeling and the difficulty there. It also has the destructive patterns of going back. This also explores trauma and mental health. Joey deals with anxiety and OCD. The latter to the point that when her stress gets too high, she hurts her ear with a Q-Tip. Shifting to how we deal with, we see how not dealing with trauma can lead to festering. We also see enabling, with Joey and Craig. Brian is also a cosmic narcissist.
Shifting to filmmaking, the movie employs surreal, arthouse elements with excellent cinematography. The transition from the city to an isolated desert house is effective, utilizing kaleidoscopic visuals and silent-era aesthetics. Homages to Japanese cinema appear through Craig learning the language, which introduces a tentacled creature reminiscent of hentai. The practical body horror is impressive, and while some CGI are present, it is forgivable given the complexity of the designs. Finally, the sound design and music aptly complement the film's atmosphere.
All that is left then would be the acting performances. I’ve mostly covered this already. Dudley and Gavaris are good as these codependent roommate characters. Pucci is great here. His dancing and just aloof nature, since he's an alien, works so well. I’ll be honest, his dancing and how they framed it made me laugh. Forte works as his assistant who wants the affection that Joey gets but is instead manipulated. I love how all these characters are complicated since it helps the narrative. The rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, this film offers a truly unique blend of offbeat comedy and unsettling horror that keeps the audience engaged throughout. Its exploration of heavy themes like addiction, trauma, and mental health provides a grounded emotional core to the otherwise surreal narrative. With strong performances from the lead cast and a set of refreshingly complicated characters, it stands as a memorable and thought-provoking piece of genre filmmaking that is well worth a watch. I will warn you that this might not work for everyone with just certain elements chosen.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10