Touch Me Review: Psychedelic, Hentai-Inspired Alien Thriller is a Must-See Queer Body Horror Comedy
Two co-dependent roommates fall for an attractive alien whose touch can cure anxiety, but he may be harbouring a sinister secret
by Alex Kaan 2 May 2026
Lightbulb Film Distribution
As genre cinema becomes an increasingly viable way for indie filmmakers to break into the industry, we’re seeing more and more ambitious midnight movies that refuse to be easily categorised. In this light, writer-director Addison Heimann’s second feature is a veritable nesting doll of a film. An intoxicating mix of practical body horror, offbeat humour, and live-action tentacle hentai, Touch Me is a supremely effective genre mash-up that will have you squirming as much as you’re laughing.
Beginning with a nine-minute monologue, the horror comedy doesn’t take long to let the viewer know they’re watching a decidedly different film. As Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension) tells her therapist, she’s still traumatised from the sexual violence she endured in her last relationship, which just so happens to have been with Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci, American Horror Story), an alien who has come to Earth to fix climate change—and has the power to temporarily cure one’s anxiety with just one touch. Joey lives with her best friend, Craig (Jordan Gavaris, Orphan Black), and the 30-something pair spends their time doing little else but day-drinking, smoking, and enabling each other’s aimless behaviour. But when a horrific plumbing mishap makes their apartment difficult to live in, Joey cautiously accepts an invitation from Brian to visit his compound.
Lightbulb Film Distribution
The film kicks into gear with the weekend getaway, where we’re introduced to the comical, oddball villain: a tentacular monster in the body of a muscular man who exclusively wears tracksuits and eats chicken nuggets. Also, he swears by his daily “meditation” in the form of hip-hop dance routines. Joey soon finds herself growing addicted to his touch yet again, an addiction which Craig likewise develops—but what the pair don’t realise is that their attraction to Brian has put them in grave danger.
Despite the quirky comedic set-pieces, and while the subject matter may be a steamy, slimy cross-species love triangle, Touch Me is defined by a surprisingly heartfelt undercurrent and a refreshingly blunt exploration of co-dependent relationships and lingering trauma. Heimann tackles sexual assault head-on through the dialogue, and there’s a sensitivity in this examination in the way that he doesn’t sanitise his characters or deliver one-note villains. As revealed in her therapy session monologue, we know that Brian raped Joey, but that doesn’t stop Heimann portraying the alien as an object of desire and a goofy source of comic relief. Meanwhile, as Joey and Craig wrestle with the weight of their past experiences through Brian’s bizarre healing exercises, the pair are both selfish, thoroughly imperfect victims. Walking a high-risk tightrope with aplomb, Heimann ensures that Touch Me is both a diverting horror comedy and a frank, nuanced exploration of trauma and healing.
Lightbulb Film Distribution
The film is anchored by a trio of idiosyncratic performances. Lou Taylor Pucci is hilariously uncanny as the tracksuit-wearing alien, and Jordan Gavaris lends great comedic timing to his destructive manchild, but the film belongs to Olivia Taylor Dudley, whose vulnerable turn deftly balances the zany, tentacle-filled antics. Marlene Forte (Knives Out) also impresses, delivering a charmingly hammy performance as Brian’s smitten assistant.
A gory, hilarious, and unexpectedly emotional midnight movie, Touch Me is an eccentric horror comedy that has to be seen to be believed.
Touch Me is available in the UK on Digital and Blu-ray from May 4th.