Movie critics likened his work on the film to filmmaker Peter Berg's Very Bad Things, director Phillip Noyce's Dead Calm, and Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water.

[11][12] Anton Bitel wrote in Projected Figures that the film "expertly builds the tension from initial disquiet to final outright pandemonium, leaving it for the most part to his atmospheric location and to some jarring jump cuts to disorient the viewer, and resorting to blood and special effects only sparingly.

The film's sound design is exquisite, as it must be – but special mention should also be made of the understated and convincingly serious performances of the cast, ensuring that there is not even the faintest whiff of cheese to match Reverb's palpably eerie vibe.

[5][18] Blackburn's production team went through a casting process which took seven months;[19] the film stars Nichola Burley, Tom Burke, Jaime Winstone and Julian Morris.

[10][22] Film shooting for Donkey Punch began in March 2007;[23] during production Blackburn dealt with actors afflicted by hypothermia and tidal surges on location.

[26] The Philadelphia Inquirer compared Blackburn's work to films including filmmaker Peter Berg's Very Bad Things and director Philip Noyce's Dead Calm, and wrote, "Donkey Punch offers a gripping mix of sexual heat and nasty menace.

"[27] The Los Angeles Times additionally compared Blackburn's work to Dead Calm as well as director Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water, and concluded, Donkey Punch isn't without a certain power as it gleefully turns its careless hedonists into caged, paranoid rats.

"[37] In 2013 he directed Kristy[38] for The Weinstein Company produced by Jamie Patricof[39] Cory Sienaga[40] David Kirschner[41] and Lynette Howell Taylor[42] starring Haley Bennett and Lucas Till.

The film premiered at the London Film Festival[43] in 2014 where Anton Bitell writing in Sight & Sound noted that "This follow-up to Blackburn's Donkey Punch is beautifully shot, and sets its mostly familiar stalk-and-dash material within the context of contemporary online anomie and a broader debate about chance versus causality"[44] and in the New Statesman Ryan Gilbey noted its "pervasive sense of dread and a use of DIY tinfoil masks that will make it a perennial Hallowe'en party favourite to rank alongside Friday the 13th and Scream".

[48] Since Kristy was released on Netflix in 2015 expanded its reputation as must-watch horror film recommended by sites as diverse as Bleeding Cool,[49] Bustle,[50] Screen Rant[51] and Marieclaire.

[52] Olly Blackburn has also had a long-running career directing commercials, often in a visually poetic and comedic style in striking contrast to his dark, suspenseful feature films.

[57] The Daily Mirror found it hilarious,[58] The Huffington Post called it "epic"[59] and Stephanie Webber wrote in US Magazine "Pampers is airing perhaps its best commercial yet, and it's not even Super Bowl season.

He has spoken often about his style and the craft of commercials in publications like The Beak Street Bugle[67] and Little Black Book[68] where he commented on making Pooface that "we managed to create a piece of work that reflected what we all wanted to achieve: basically the awesome, mind-blowing experience of what it's like to take a shit for the first time.

Oozing with sex, concerned with racial and class politics, and full of scheming anti-heroines who will do whatever it takes to get to the top, it simultaneously throws away the quaint, courtly image of Austen's work while embracing the bitter acid of her pen".

[75] In 2022 he directed the second half of Dangerous Liaisons created by Harriet Warner based on Christopher Hampton's award-winning play and film, adapted from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos.

[77] Blackburn has shared his thoughts on filming historical adaptations like Sanditon in The Atlantic: "'Viewers in the 21st century want—demand—to see a version of the past that stresses its similarities with the present day'...

"[78] In 2022 Blackburn co-founded musikmotion Labs in collaboration with The University of North Texas, a platform for exploring the intersection between music and moving image across all media through in-depth interviews with leading artists and composers.