Filmstalker Review: Donkey Punch

Donkey Punch is British backed film that showcases some younger talent with a Hollywood beating style that is visible through the writing and the filming.

A few flaws later on in the film do cause it to falter, but a strong script, good performances, and some reality and style see it through.

Donkey Punch refers to a sexual act, something that appears later in the story as the instigating act for the events that fall upon these characters.

Three girls are out for a holiday in Mallorca, trying to make their friend forget her cheating boyfriend she's just dumped. They head out for a night of fun, drinking, dancing and most likely men, and they encounter all of the above.

They meet a group of young men who are the crew on a local yacht, and together they head back out on the seas for some serious partying and the beginning of a night that seems like everyone's dream. However with the consuming of drugs and alcohol, the party goes a little too far and takes a downward turn.

Soon the evening's events spiral out of control as the boys scramble to ensure their future isn't destroyed and the girls struggle to make it home in one piece, if at all.

The film kicks off with the girls getting ready for their night out, and the scene shows us three things very clearly about Donkey Punch. One is that it's a sexy film with some gorgeous looking women, two that the performances are very natural and three that the film is going to be packed with style.

It does look gorgeous for so many reasons. Both the male and female actresses are good looking and carry bags of sex appeal, the backdrops and the lighting look gorgeous, and the film itself looks sharp and crisp with bold colours giving the feel of a high end production. Then there's the excellent soundtrack which matches the film well and provides for some great listening while not detracting from the film itself.

This is a really good British film, something that our film industry should be immensely proud of. The film is close to excellent barring a couple of problems that hold it back, and it shows off some excellent young British talent who we are going to see more and more of.

The story plays out really well, it's a simple tale we've seen before but given some great twists. The film builds the tension and suspense perfectly, never jumping forward to hit a key scene nor dawdling too long on a moment. It really does feel perfectly timed, paced and edited, genuinely it does.

There are issues with the story though. It does stay away from the predictable and delivering a few turns that are unexpected and away from the norm, but near the end a few lesser thoughtful scenes appear. Just when everything is escalating beyond control, a switch seems to flip and the stock folder gets pulled out.

Instantly, and without warning, the story leaps headlong into what feels like the standard new style British horromedy - I hate genre names but when I coined that the other day in conversation I loved it - where a character death is carried out in the most absurd and funny manner possible.

It's at this point that I felt the film just lost so much ground on what it had done so well to build, something that seemed so easy for it too, creating a strong thriller with a few good moments of horror and comedy. That uncomfortable feeling that I'd been carrying through the film and had felt building and building was gone and replaced with a mild feeling of disdain and humour.

Now while that works well for films like Hot Fuzz (Filmstalker review) or Severance, but here the entire film is taking you a different route, making you think that this is quite different, but in the end it gives in and takes the easy route for a couple of key moments and one death.

After this the film tries to recover and go back to the same path it was ploughing before, and it almost does make it, but it doesn't have the time to fully recover. If they had kept out the ridiculous death scene then this film could really have been superb.

The cast, and I know I've said this before, is superb. The young British talent give strong, natural performances, all are great and really do bring their characters to life, and when things go wrong you're completely with them. Robert Boulter, Sian Breckin, Tom Burke, Nichola Burley, Julian Morris, Jay Taylor and Jaime Winstone.

Something has to be said for the slick direction from Oliver Blackburn and the great script from both Blackburn and David Bloom. The dialogue and character reactions are great, realistic, humorous, and above all terrified.

I really enjoyed the film. I did think it broke enough ground from the standard British horror comedy and brought something special to the genre, mainly with the writing, characters and strong acting. With great style and music to boot, and a liberal dosing of sex, drugs and death, what more could you ask for? It's a great film that showcases some strong British talent, we should be proud of Donkey Punch and ask for more from the people behind it.

Trailer:
I have just received the trailer in various formats and sizes:
Quicktime: High, Medium, Low
Windows Media Player: High, Medium, Low
Realplayer: High, Medium, Low