Cannes

Donkey Punch

 (U.K.)

Setup couldn't be simpler, as three tarts down from Leeds for some good times in Mallorca, Spain, are picked up by three young British blokes with weekend access to a luxury yacht. Finding a fourth fellow onboard and happily partaking of the quickly offered booze and drugs, two of the girls soon participate in an impromptu porn video with three of the guys in the master suite.

It's quite a hot scene, well designed to warm the cockles. Unfortunately, it ends prematurely, not because of any sexual dysfunction, but because one of the men decides to commit the pernicious eponymous act -- a punch to the neck of the woman a man is taking from behind that allegedly increases the thrill at the key moment -- and ends up killing her.

Subsequent freakout by all hands and panicky balancing of moral and legal ramifications by the men results in a decision to dump the body overboard. Lots of nasty arguing in dark nighttime settings ensues, resulting in a dull dramatic midsection before a third act in which the body count mounts alarmingly.

The characters are virtually interchangeable, the violence grisly and the attitudes coarse. Blackburn and co-scripter David Bloom deliver the basic desired sex and gore, but the entire cruise is pretty unappetizing.

Although set in the Mediterranean, the pic was mostly shot off Cape Town, South Africa -- water is water. At least at the screening caught, the sound mix made it tough to pick up much of the dialogue.

Camera (color), Nanu Segal; editor, Kate Evans; music, Francois-Eudes Chanfrault; music supervisor, Phil Canning; production designer, Delarey Wagener; line producer, Marlow De Mardt; assistant director, Barry Wasserman; casting, Des Hamilton. Reviewed at Sundance Film Festival (Park City at Midnight), Jan. 25, 2008. Running time: 89 MIN.