Film Review: Alien Love Reigns in ‘Touch Me’

Touch Me begins with a lengthy monologue delivered by Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) in her therapist’s office. Unemployed and adrift, she’s been living with her trust fund baby friend, Craig (Jordan Gavaris). She Dealing with a childhood incident that left her emotionally scarred, along with a hell of a case of OCD (she constantly sticks Q-tips really deep in her ears), she tells her therapist about the affair she had with a mysterious yet charismatic alien (Lou Taylor Pucci) whose human name is Brian. Confessing that the sex was really hot, she admits that Brian’s touch soothed her. It’s positively addictive.

She comes home to find Craig in a panic. Their shower has exploded in an unexplained torrent of feces, rendering the place uninhabitable…and no money to fix it.

They have no recourse but to accept Brian’s invitation to spend the weekend at his remote vacation home. When they arrive, they find their host outside, shirtless and performing an extremely elaborate hip hop dance. He says that it’s his way to meditate.

Craig also falls under Brian’s spell, and the former besties become rivals to win his heart and get some of that sweet interspecies sex. They meet Brian’s assistant, Laura (Marlene Forte), who is purportedly a human but behaves even more strangely than he is. Joey is afraid of Laura’s stern visage and her seeming ability to control Brian’s emotions. To make matters more complicated, she is also vying for the alien’s affection.

With all of these people under his spell, Brian’s invincibility quickly gets out of control and he feels liberated to do anything he pleases with them. At one point, he even tells Joey, “I must devour Craig!” But like all narcissists, he gets whiny and self-pitying when he doesn’t get his way.

All of the performances are fine. Dudley and Gavaris make a believable pair of besties. Dudley in particular can look wounded without uttering a word. As for the rest, Forte is channeling Alida Valli in Suspiria big time and Pucci is wryly amusing and sphinx-like throughout. And man, can he dance!

Addison Heimann, the film’s writer and director, is certainly ambitious. He has a lot on his mind and mostly approaches the offbeat material with wry humor. Playing with aspect ratios, a sendup of a black and white silent film and double exposures, he keeps the film interesting to look at. But by the time Touch Me devolves into the expected climactic gorefest, viewers may lose the story. Nevertheless, it’s definitely worth a look for those who enjoy straying off the beaten path.

Touch Me is available on digital and Blu-Ray.