What I Watched - "Donkey Punch"
In this modern, high-tech, go-go gadget world it's difficult to make a believable thriller/horror movie and explain away the technological fail-safes that surround us every day. How can one truly experience a terrifying, extended stalking scene with cell phones, blackberries, wi-fi, hot spots, and constant urban sprawl? Donkey Punch finds a set-up that puts these beautiful people in a setting where not only is the lack of external contact believable, but the murderous rampage that follows is as well. In the film three slutty girls on vacation meet three equally slutty guys at Bar de la Slut and decide to go out on the guy's boat for champagne, swimming, and lots of rough, unprotected sex. I should take this moment to point out that the main drawback of the film was the thick, cockney accents of the entire cast which made a lot of the exposition difficult to understand, especially since there was no English closed captioning available on the DVD, only en Espanol. I got the feeling that one of the girls did not want to go on the boat for one reason or another but queen slut convinced her. When the drinking, drugging, and unprotected sex on the high seas on a stolen boat somehow goes horribly awry, the boys and the girls descend into two camps, both hellbent on survival. While the language barrier was certainly an issue, the tension was unmistakable. Adrift at sea in a no win situation the group turn against each other for survival. Having no mindless killer who kills just for the hell of it, the motivation behind the actions is understandable which makes it that much more terrifying. The movie is also very well filmed with several shocking scenes that will make you squirm and cover your eyes.
Akin to The Descent for it claustrophobia and (wo)man against (wo)man terror, Donkey Punch effectively evokes empathy to make you question how you would react in the same situation. Part of the terrifying brilliance of The Descent was that it could have been almost as horrifying were it not for the hordes of Bat-Boys attacking, as it focused on the characters losing faith and trust in each other and trying to get out of a horrible situation. Donkey Punch is that bat-boyless movie. No inbred bat monsters, but a fair depiction of humanity stretched to its breaking point and what a person will do for survival.
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