Touch Me is a ridiculous film that wants you to embrace its absurdity, have fun, and not think too hard about the bad effects, nonsensical plot, or often clunky dialogue. And for a while, that works. It has moments of genuine fun, stylish neon aesthetics, surprisingly good performances, and even some intriguing mystery. But it also features an alien with tentacles whose touch gives people a heroin-like high while luring them into sex before lifting them with his massive tentacles, all as part of his plan for world domination. How much you enjoy it depends on how okay you are with that.
At first, it worked for me, largely because the two leads are genuinely endearing, and some of their jokes, especially the more grounded ones in their interactions, land well. The alien, Brian, starts off as an intriguing enigma, but as the film reveals its mysteries, it becomes increasingly static (and less funny), eventually feeling repetitive and losing me.
The movie opens strong: Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) delivers a hilarious therapy monologue about how she met an alien and escaped. She moves in with her best friend Craig (Jordan Gavaris), but financial struggles pull them back to Brian, leading to increasingly bizarre events. The plot bears a strong resemblance to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The best parts of Touch Me are its non-fantasy scenes. Joey and Craig’s dynamic is well-developed, making them easy to care about even as the film goes off the rails. Their quirks and back-and-forth banter are genuinely entertaining, especially as they begin competing for Brian’s attention.
But even that, along with the jokes, soon runs out of steam as the film starts to meander halfway through. By that point, all the clever ideas, how to kill the alien, the dance scene, the helper, and terrifying close-ups of an ear Q-tip, start feeling repetitive. More than once, I found myself thinking, Wait… haven’t they already said this? The alien’s reveal is shown multiple times, and while the therapy scenes start off strong, they eventually feel like filler. And considering they were meant to be a core aspect of the movie, that’s a problem.
Despite the silliness of the third act, a conventional plot and two strong lead performances help keep the film grounded. That, along with the funny interactions and jokes, makes Touch Me watchable even as the novelty wears off. But with some trimming, it could have been a sharper, more satisfying ride at a breezy 80 minutes.
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- Where to watch
Shudder- Where to watch
- Out of Theaters
Play trailer
- Original title
- Touch Me
- Director
- Addison Heimann
- Genre
- Horror, Science Fiction, Comedy
- Cast
- Olivia Taylor Dudley, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jordan Gavaris, Marlene Forte, Paget Brewster, Ashley Lauren Nedd, JJ Phillips, Yumarie Morales
- Rated
- NR
- Screenwriter
- Addison Heimann
- Composer
- Jimmy LaValle
- Cinematography
- Dustin Supencheck
- Editor
- Jess Weber
- Country
- Language
- English