“You guys know this is about tentacle fucking right?” This is how writer/director Addison Heimann introduced his latest feature Touch Me, and honestly, no, I did not know that. But I did cheer along with the rest of the Panic Fest 2025 crowd at the late Saturday night showing of the film. This psychosexual horror comedy was a blast to watch with an absolutely deviant festival crowd. You would be forgiven if you expected that a story that revolves around cross species intercourse didn’t also explore some deeper emotional themes, and you can enjoy Touch Me just for the kinky alien sex if that’s your thing (we listen and we don’t judge), but there is a lot more going on here.
The film opens as Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley), using a therapy technique where the patient recounts a bizarre fantastical story to the therapist, treats us to a lengthy monologue about meeting a man in a track suit that simply must be an alien and following him to is compound in the hills where he heals her anxiety with his magical touch and gives her unimaginable pleasure with his true alien form. When things go too far Joey returns home to her best friend Craig (Jordan Gavaris). The pair are locked into a toxic friendship of codependency. They enable each other to be the worst versions of themselves and spiral into self destruction.
When things fall apart and Joey is forced to try to get a job she encounters the alien, Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci) once again. He offers to take the pair in and put them through his therapy sessions. Brian spends his days mediating via hip hop dance with his dutiful employee Laura (Marlene Forte) while fueling his human body with dino shaped chicken nuggets. Joey and Craig quickly become addicted to Brian’s calming touch and thirsty for a few minutes alone with his extraterrestrial appendages.
Once Joey and Craig find out that Brian is sleeping with both of them things come to a head. As their personal traumas come to the surface the friendship begins to fall apart. There are an endless amount of films that deal with romantic breakups but so few that address the ending of friendships that are no longer healthy. I would argue that these sorts of breakups can be even more difficult than romantic couples, it’s more difficult to know when it needs to be over. Heimann paints a picture of two people who were once having a good time but have become increasingly unhealthy for each other without even realizing it. While it certainly isn’t his intent, Brian becomes the catalyst for them to see that.
There is also no shortage of genre movies about characters dealing with trauma, but few are this funny and unhinged! Lou Taylor Pucci steals the show as the ridiculous man-child alien Brian, but Taylor Dudley and Gavaris are also sharp witted and give great line delivery. Forte, as the stern and strange household employee of Brian is quietly creepy as she pops into situations unexpectedly.
Heimann mentioned in the Q&A after our screening that he took a lot of inspiration from Japanese cinema and he feeds that into the stunning scenery and lighting. Touch Me is beautifully filmed and the visual effects far exceed expectation at this budget level. This high camp sci-fi satire won’t be for everyone, but if it’s for you you’re going to have a great time with it!
Touch Me played Panic Fest 2025 on Saturday, March 29th, 2025.
