Donkey Punch 2008

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Will anyone finally escape this floating slaughterhouse? Do you even care? Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: Packs a magnetic jolt of fearsome intensity. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The film goes off the rails in the final third, sacrificing subtle character work at the altar of blood-and-guts survival horror. As mood-killers go, it's like a jab to the back of the neck. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Anyone looking for a stoned and bikinied update of L'Avventura, Purple Noon, Dead Calm, or other boat-bound chillers will have to settle for The Real World: Death Yacht. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: It's got enough formulaic flair to make it a guilty-pleasure cousin of seaborne nailbiters Knife in the Water and Dead Calm. Read more

Kate Ward, Entertainment Weekly: The claustrophobic open-water setting might have worked but for the uncomfortably explicit sex scene and flashy gore. In fact, this predictable film wouldn't be effective anywhere outside a DARE program. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Almost impossibly hard to watch, and that's exactly what it wants. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Watching, it's easy to feel a little stranded, too. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Fairly well-executed exploitation. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Unfortunately, Donkey Punch delivers a donkey punch of its own. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's Dead Calm meets Very Bad Things, with English accents. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Half lurid and half just murky. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: The movie becomes a Knife in the Water for the era of Ugly Briton, package tour imperialism. Read more

Philip Kennicott, Washington Post: Donkey Punch is almost humorless, and there's no wink and nudge behind the mayhem to absolve us of taking its ugly, class-obsessed subtext seriously. Read more