The horror genre is built on a foundation of bad decisions by characters like the lunkhead gallivanting into the darkness to check out "that noise" and the couple who think a decrepit old house on top of the hill might be a good place to rest for the night. Horror wouldn't exist if these people made all the right moves, so the occasional hiccup can be forgiven. But an entire movie full of them can't be swept under the carpet that easily. Such is the position Donkey Punch finds itself in, and while I appreciate its decision to stick to basics, its rigid devotion to such simplicity delivers the most critical blow to the movie's overall potential.

In what's actually a modest thriller with a few icky set pieces thrown in, some kids looking for a good time on the high seas end up running into rather troubled waters. Tammi (Nichola Burley), Lisa (Sian Breckin), and Kim (Jaime Winstone) are bidding their troubles goodbye on vacation in sunny Spain, when the trio bumps into the dashing Marcus (Jay Taylor) and his chums. It seems they're tending to a swanky yacht while its owners are away, so Marcus has the bright idea to engage in a healthy dose of debauchery in the middle of the ocean. Drugs, booze, and all-round deviancy run rampant as the night wears on, but when one of the guys decides to try out an aberrant sex act (the "donkey punch" of the title), one of Tammi's friends pays with her life. Although the girls want to high-tail it back to terra firma, Marcus and his pals aren't as eager to involve the authorities, so they concoct a plan to cover their tracks, which ends up leading to more tragedy.

Due to its content and strange title, Donkey Punch is probably destined for infamy. I foresee it becoming one of those horror movies spoken of by someone trying to impress friends with the weirdest stuff they've ever seen. Even though Donkey Punch is not as notorious as it would like to be, it's not a traditional horror film by any means. Instead of some mindless hack-and-slash odyssey, director Olly Blackburn set out to make something a little more intimate and cerebral. Paranoia is the real villain of Donkey Punch, making swift work of turning the characters against one another as they try to sort out what to do. The donkey punch is just the start of a situation that snowballs into various grisly acts of violence that fill out the movie's running time. The idea of who's really responsible for the girl's unfortunate demise is brought up, among other scenarios that land the characters in a moral pickle. But in the end, the film becomes more concerned with building up its own image rather than in developing the many concepts it subsequently leaves half-baked.

Donkey Punch fails mostly because of the characters. I couldn't feel less sympathy for its sorry souls. Aside from Tammi -- the obligatory and preordained Final Girl -- everyone's a one-dimensional automaton with nothing but sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll on their minds. I know I'm supposed to feel sorry for the kids once desperation takes hold and causes them to swing outboard motors at one another. But such acts don't come across as born out of hopelessness. Instead, they  result from the characters being dumb as a sack of hammers, and they spend the entire film making one stupid move after another. Regarding the acting, Burley delivers a competent turn as the levelheaded Tammi, but the other performances are so bland they seem to bleed into each other. 

Donkey Punch likes to pretend it's a lurid slice of cinema and on a higher pedestal than other current horror offerings. In reality, it's no better than any other low-budget project. While Donkey Punch gets bonus points from me for its hook, its a dull movie left down for the count because of a failture to realize its full potential. 

MY RATING: * 1/2 (out of ****)

(Released by Magnolia Pictures and rated "R" for a scene of strong sexual content involving a violent act, graphic nudity, violence, language and drug use.)