DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Oliver Blackburn
Starring Jaime Winstone, Robert Boulter, Sian Breckin, Nichola Burley, Tom Burke, Jay Taylor, Julian Morris
Release date Out now

Three girls on holiday in Spain meet a group of fun-loving guys in a bar, and agree to join them on their yacht. A hedonistic orgy of booze, drugs and sex ends disastrously when one of the guys acts out the fabled sexual act of the ‘donkey punch’…

Considering that the entire premise of Donkey Punch revolves around the sexual act of the title (which involves knocking a girl on the back of the neck during the moment of climax), it would be easy to imagine that this is a horrifically dumb yoof-orientated erotic thriller. But director Oliver Blackburn and co-writer David Bloom manage to fashion an atmospheric and very tense little morality tale that draws much from its claustrophobic setting and pumping electronic soundtrack.

There are nods to Very Bad Things and Shallow Grave as events spiral out of control following the death of one of the partygoers, but this feels much closer to a classic horror movie. In place of a ruthless psycho or rampaging monster, the killer force here is the fear and panic of the characters, which prompts them to turn on each other and behave in ways that they never thought possible.

Blackburn neatly makes the transition from the hedonistic early sequences to the darkness and escalating terror of subsequent events. The reaction of the characters isn’t always entirely believable, sometimes feeling a little too conveniently shaped to fit the plot. But terrific performances from a mostly unknown cast (along with Jaime Winstone, who’s shaping up to be one of Britain’s most interesting young actresses) help you to overlook that. And though the characters are far from likeable, it's difficult not to empathise with these everyday people caught up in horrific circumstances beyond their control.

In the accompanying DVD extras the cast talk about preparing themselves for the challenging material, while Blackburn reveals how the idea was partly borne out of holidays in his youth. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 8/10
A surprisingly tense horror that reveals a dark underbelly to holiday hedonism.