What’s the Story?

In DONKEY PUNCH, three young Englishwomen on vacation in Spain (Nichola Burley, Sian Breckin, and Jaime Winstone) meet four handsome, dashing young men (Julian Morris, Robert Boulter, Jay Taylor, and Tom Bourke) crewing a yacht moored nearby. In the what-the-heck spirit of being on holiday, the women are invited back to the boat; since the yacht's owner has already flown home, the drinks and drugs come out, the gang heads out to sea, and there's some lighthearted discussion of sexual urban legends -- like the "donkey punch," in which a man strikes a woman during sex to provoke visceral muscular reactions. Some of the frolickers then pair up and head below decks to fool around -- where someone actually tries the titular technique, and someone winds up dead. In the effort to try to control the situation -- and keep the ramifications of what's happened contained -- the crew and their guests wind up pitted against each other, and soon their numbers start dwindling as things get more and more desperate.

Is It Any Good?

With style, sun, fun, and drug-fuelled sex that ends in death, Donkey Punch works as an effective cautionary tale. Don't go boating with strange boys/overdo the booze and pills/believe the stories about mythical sexual techniques, or bad things will happen. So says the film, and as the characters squirm about trying to clean up the messes they've made -- with ever-worsening ramifications and a mounting body count -- we're more than willing to listen. As Donkey Punch's plot goes from hi-jinks to homicide, we wind up feeling curiously hopeful for (and, at the same time, judgmental of) all the characters; we've all had a party go a little wrong, and as the characters deal with one little fatal faux pas, we almost sympathize with their plight. Almost.

Although it's in no way meant for teens or kids, when you wipe the blood off of it, Donkey Punch is actually a fairly good suspense thriller for adults; the characters actually matter as characters -- who they are determines the plot, and not vice-versa. Director Oliver Blackburn also has a great eye for shots and lighting: During a drug-fuelled orgy, a room is lit in hazy, glowing soft light; after the room has become a crime scene, the room is seen in bleak, bright glare. Donkey Punch isn't a knockout, but it does go the distance.

Have you seen it?

Movie Details

Studio

Magnolia Pictures

Director

Oliver Blackburn

Cast

Julian Morris
Nichola Burley
Robert Boulter

Genre

Thriller

Run time

99 minutes

Theatrical release

1/23/2009

DVD release

4/7/2009

MPAA Rating

R

MPAA explanation

a scene of strong sexual content involving an aberrant violent act, graphic nudity, violence, language and drug use

For Your Family