Donkey Punch [DVD] [2008]

I've never attended media or drama school , never done film studies or anything like that but I imagine that if I had one of the things they would tell you is, if you are making a film where characters are in genuine peril make sure that the audience cares about some of them . Otherwise the audience has no emotional investment in the piece and it fails as a true drama. It helps if they can act too.
Donkey Punch ultimately fails because it is (mostly) populated by loathsome characters doing squalid things and then turning on each other like a pack of rabid polecats. Three friends from Leeds-Kim (Jaime Winstone) , Tammi (Nicola Burley) and Lisa ( Sian Brekin) are on holiday in Majorca when they meet up with a gang of lads who have access to a very nice yacht. Seduced by the glamour of the boat, the location and the boys they allow themselves to be taken out to sea . A jokey interlude leads to a sexual reference that has tragic ,though slightly unbelievable, consequences , and before long everyone is at each others throats like contestants on "Come Dine With Me " but without the sarcastic voice over( that would have helped make the film more enjoyable ) and the body count starts to rise .
I have no problem with young people, hell I was one myself once, and have no problem with them enjoying themselves. However I would caution any young women to be wary of boys they have just met and definitely not to do drugs and have unprotected sex ( though it transpires STD,s are the least of their worries) with them .Though as it happens a neck brace is needed more than a condom. This unfortunate proclivity means I didn't have as much sympathy with them as I might have done ,especially since the lads were such a set of objectionable toe-rags.
One is a pill dispensing waste of skin so sleazy he would turn the stomach of a Tory MP. As has been pointed out in other reviews he talks in a low-key whispery manner meant ,I think, to covey loquacious charm and wisdom except it just makes him even more repellent than he already is .Some going .Why any female would want to come within fifty yards of this dodgy maggot , let alone have sex with him, casts serious doubt on their taste and intelligence. The others are a queasy mixture of borderline psycho's ,aberrant cowards and flint hearted b****** so utterly repellent they could be premiership footballers.
In the interests of balance I should point out that Tammi is a little more restrained than her mates and is the only who raises a beautifully manicured eye brow about going with the lads. The one she hooks up , is the only one of the boys who displays any humanity at all though mostly it's too little , too late.
God only knows what writer and director Oliver Blackburn ( it was co-written along with Andrew Bloom) is aiming for with this nasty resolutely unlikable film. The capricious nature of fate? How violence begets violence ?How one random stupid act can have far reaching disastrous consequences? How thick and abhorrent young people can be? How lottery money can be wasted on obnoxious trash? Given Channel Fours woeful youth output their involvement is no surprise. Donkey Punch is a horrible film with no redeeming features that I can think of. Seven go mad on a boat and die unpleasantly ..Should have been scuttled before it reached development stage.

Donkey Punch (meaning hitting a woman whilst having sex) is an odd mash-up of poorly acted Brit flick foolery and a suspenseful murder tainted drama. It sees 3 girls hook up with 3 moronic guys, who then proceed to party on a luxury yacht. Drugs lead to filmed sex partying, which leads to an accidental death. The cover-up of the murder then leads to boys versus girls, and survival. Far-fetched, painfully trying to be trendy and slow this almost decent effort loses it's shock elements and brutal gore to a weakened script and purpose.

Nothing more than ok, this is an average Brit horror based drama with twinges of quality, leaving you with a pointless empty feeling that could have been so much more. Brits should not copy US teen styled slasher flicks and stick to gritty, dark, clever plots instead.

Donkey Punch is a taut little Brit-shocker that succeeds in many aspects, but fails in a couple of important ones. The main problem lies with the characters. The guys are callous and contemptible and the girls more than a little stupid. Although there are signs that the writers realised this, and therefore tried to make a couple of the characters more sympathetic, there's no one here that the viewer can really empathise with and as a result the brutality (and there's plenty of it) is diffused in its effect. And, while the viewer's allegiance is challenged from time to time, its hard to care too much about who survives and who doesn't. It's also a little slow in delivering the mayhem. Once it starts, however, the gears shift and it becomes an efficient, and gory, descent into chaos.