Donkey Punch

Boats are good venues for madness. Isolated and with the threat of death pretty much everywhere, they’ve been put to good use by the likes of Dead Calm. More recently, Adrift took on the issue of partying youths at sea and plonked them in the drink - but Olly Blackburn keeps his hedonists onboard for a ride, during which, it seems drowning may be the least of their worries.

This marks Blackburn’s feature debut, so perhaps he can be forgiven for this rather long set up, in which a group of Leeds lasses (Jaime Winstone, Nichola Burley and Sian Breckin) head for sun, sangria and illegal substances in Spain. While out on the tiles, their guy-free break falls by the wayside after they hook up with three blokes on the beach, who offer to take them back to a yacht. Once on board they discover there’s a fourth man in the equation and with four into three always a recipe for disaster, it only takes the addition of more booze and some particularly heavy drugs before things begin to get out of hand.

This is where Blackburn’s film begins to find its stride as a below-decks orgy has deadly consequences involving the ‘donkey punch’ of the title – the description of which is best left for the film to explain. With one person dead, what should they do? Panic ensues and quickly slides into psychosis as a climate of paranoia, drugs and fear means its every man and woman for themselves. The characters are cleverly drawn – particularly wide boy Bluey (Tom Burke), wet-behind-the-ears Josh (Julian Morris) and feisty party girl Kim (Winstone) - and, since they’re almost all self-interested and smug, it's enjoyable to watch the film slip from thriller into wildly imaginative slasher mode.

The key character, however, is the boat itself, which offers the sort of tight, claustrophobic spaces in which nightmares thrive. As paper-thin friendships tear apart and allegiances ebb and flow, the body count climbs in a spirited and inventive fashion. The water, always a difficult place to achieve a realistic look, is captured perfectly, and Blackburn’s camera hugs every inch of the babes’ and boys’ beautiful, bronzed bodies, giving early scenes an erotic edge. The cast acquit themselves admirably, managing to strike a delicate balance of bravado and fear – although the regional accents may prove a little tricky for American audiences.

If you thought you’d seen all the ways to snuff it at sea, Blackburn may teach you a thing or two.