Aliens. They’re here, they’re queer, and they’ve come to reduce global warming with their awesome hip hop moves.
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.
Touch Me, IMDB
Here, we have Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley), a 30-something with no future, living with trauma and her gay bestie Craig (Jordan Gavaris). After a particularly weird and unspeakable sexual adventure with alien Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), her life is all topsy turvy as she struggles with Brian’s horrible, tentacled existence and her growing need to be with him. Touch Me is the story of our pasts, our futures, and our very human need for love and acceptance… and some horror in there too.
Painted in a soft blue and magenta glow with faded hallucinations and wonderfully beautiful scenes of erotic bliss, Touch Me stabs through with dramatic retellings of Joey and Craig’s past experiences with sexual violence at a young age. Like addiction itself, and probably one of the true pulls of this movie, Touch Me gives you that satisfying, sweet release — but then it snatches it away with the most vile things you can imagine. Deep inside of that peaceful, lovely existence they’re experiencing with Brian, lurks a hidden side. Touch Me isn’t just a silly love story with an alien; the plot thickens when Joey finds a sinister side of these late-night trysts… one where heads explode.
Although each of the four are absolutely amazing to watch on screen, I have to hand it to Joey’s Olivia Taylor Dudley, who at multiple points had long-track monologues that caught my attention and made me feel for her the most. All she needed was that one moment of peace, just one more fix and then everything would be right with the world. When it doesn’t go her way, her anxiety and fear turn to rage. Her actions were awful, but could you blame her? Well, Brian sure can, because there are also moments of gore that are brutal and wild, with Brian showing his true colors by biting hands off and popping skulls like balloons. And all of this is intertwined with — you guessed it — tentacles.
Touch Me is a ludicrous, cinematic thrill ride that manages to both tantalize your eye holes as well as make you fear the existence of world-dominating alien species with ulterior motives. But the true horror is the fear of letting go and finally doing something that will heal the part of yourself lost to trauma. It sounds silly — and it definitely is — but it’s also deep and profound and crazy.
Touch Me is available to stream on digital (Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube Movies, and Sky Store) and purchase on Blu-ray starting May 4th.
