Touch Me is the sophomore effort by Addison Heimann. The director premiered with Hypochondriac, a 2022 release. His new film is another addition to the tendency of contemporary horror films to use genre conventions to tackle trauma and abuse. In his latest film, Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) is a traumatized woman who suffered an abusive situation and became a recluse. She quit her job and moved in with her best friend, Craig (Jordan Gavaris), who is a wealthy man who does not work. When she decides to return to her life by searching for a new job and starting to go to therapy, her former partner, who participated in the traumatic event, returns to her life. He invites her to spend the weekend in his luxury mansion in the middle of the desert. Joey decides to go and takes Craig with her on an unforgettable journey.
The film experiments with elements from horror and science fiction to tell its story. The director employs different genres to portray the extraterrestrials and their touch as an ignition to discuss multiple themes. The abuser trope develops in the character of Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), an extraterrestrial man who sells seeds to repopulate the Earth’s forests. It is an obvious metaphor to billionaires, especially the figure of Elon Musk, who publicly stated that everyone should have multiple children to populate the planet. Brian has a hypnotic touch, which is as addictive as ecstasy; anyone touched by it desires it again. In this sense, the director crafts the passion towards him due to his sympathy, comfortable mansion, and healing touch. The days in the mansion have a schedule focusing on healing the wounds of Craig and Joey. He believes in multiple alternative therapies to mend their traumas and become better individuals.
However, Touch Me falls into the allegorical territory when portraying the characters and their psychological issues. The film undoubtedly utilizes the alien domination to symbolize aggressive behaviors in a relationship, such as sexual abuse, rape, and trauma. At first, Joey is a compelling character who cannot move on with her life after the trauma of a night. In the highly emotional scenes, Olivia Taylor Dudley delivers an outstanding performance as someone unable to continue living. She cannot escape the pain of the aggressions she has suffered in her life. Simultaneously, Brian’s touch is exciting and intriguing, and she tempts herself to have that feeling again. Nevertheless, the first half has enough thrilling moments to introduce a structure that engages the audience to discover the details of this story.
In the second act, the film derails from the tracks. As soon as Brian participates more promptly in the movie, it diminishes the impact of the established backstory of the first half. The film fails to reach its story potential for several reasons, one of which is the expositional nature of the dialogue. In this sense, the director fails to develop a horror that displays its genre conventions to increase the narrative, but it does so through allegories. Brian is an insufferable character, and once the construction relies on his extraterritorial trait to justify his actions, he imposes drama in the film. Nonetheless, the film is a cringey film about abuse and trauma. It attempts to create a sleek and modernized allegory about these intricate themes, but it fails to function in any manner.
Visually, it features fascinating elements in the costume design and art direction, which aim to create a stylish and elegant visual in the scenarios and costumes. Yet, its most impactful scenes, the cross-species intercourse, lose their effect due to the darkness on the screen. The erotism and weirdness present in the film are not present because of the director’s lack of visual presence. He composes poorly the framing in each scene. Thus, the final sequences are a compilation of uninteresting moments with a poor graphical display, which suggests the horror lies in the darkness and the lack of lighting.
Ultimately, Touch Me is a cringey effort and commentary on sexual abuse and violence. It relies on allegories to comment on rape, trauma, and the difficulties of dealing with problematic moments of your past. The extraterritorial aspect diminishes because of a confusing direction that lacks personality to imprint its visual blueprint. Even so, Olivia Taylor Dudley thrives in bringing nuance and character to portray a woman with a complicated backstory. In the end, the film is an uninteresting and messy film that does not tackle the difficult theme it attempts to comment on.
Touch Me recently played at the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the official site for the title.
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