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Screenwriters: Oliver Blackburn, David Bloom
Starring: Jaime Winstone, Sian Brecken, Nichola Burley, Tom Burke, Julian Morris, Jay Taylor
Running Time: 99 mins
Certificate: 18
Rest assured, no donkeys were harmed in the making of this grisly British thriller, just a few wild and horny teenagers. Jaime Winstone (daughter of Ray) is among a trio of party girls from Leeds whose summer jolly to Mallorca becomes a flurry of so much blood and lust it would make even David Attenborough’s eyes water. Making his big screen debut, co-writer and director Oliver Blackburn is meticulous about packing in as many shocks as possible, so even if there is an overall lack of tension, the sense that anything could happen is tantalising.
Blackburn does bow to a few conventions of the slasher genre, putting a ‘good girl’ at the heart of the action. In this case it’s Tammi, played with soft eyes and a nervous smile by Nichola Burley (a regular in BBC drama Drop Dead Gorgeous). Recently dumped by her boyfriend, Tammi is somewhat reluctant to go along for the ride when Kim (Winstone) and Lisa (Sian Brecklin), only just arrived in town, are picked up by a bunch of London lads.
It turns out the guys have free run of a yacht where they’re employed as deck hands and it’s not long before they’re pulling up anchor and heading out to sea. A bag of ecstasy pills gets the party started in earnest, but Blackburn lingers far too long on the sordid antics below deck. Kim and Lisa become the stars of an amateur porn video with cockney wideboy Bluey (a sinister Tom Burke) behind the camera. The excess of pouting and purring eventually becomes comical, then Blackburn delivers the killer blow. In fact, it’s simpering schoolboy Josh (Julian Morris) who does the deed, punching Lisa to death in a misguided sex act.
The question of what to do with the body pits the girls against the boys, yet despite all the hysterics surrounding that decision, it’s the whispering conspiracy over the incriminating tape which proves more intriguing. Morris makes a seamless transition from clumsy geek to ruthless sociopath as he tries to get his mitts on it, and while Burke has his creepy moments early on, his dry sense of humour in dealing with the bloody fallout does much to endear him.
Winstone is also great fun to watch as she makes the shift from simple tart to tart-with-a-heart to Braveheart (with a touch less blue makeup). Her skill is in playing it straight even in obvious comedy moments, like convincing Tammi she should go first in smashing through a glass door because she is “heavier”. Regardless of that little gaff, it’s her sheer unblinking loyalty to her friends which makes her a more convincing heroine than Tammi, certainly towards the end of the film when she draws a line in the sand after so much carnage.
Blackburn finds other ways of making us squirm, David Cronenberg-style, but sometimes the onslaught of in-your-face gore does feel like a substitute for genuine claustrophobia. He does make use of all the tight spaces and dark corners aboard the yacht, and still, without enough subtext to play with, he never quite hits the heights of Dead Calm (1989) - the seafaring psychological thriller starring Nicole Kidman - which is an obvious influence.
On the other hand, when compared to a recent slew of Hollywood slasher flicks, Donkey Punch boasts real grittiness, subtlety of humour and credible performances that set it a definite cut above.
