ATM (2012)

Streaming on Tubi!
Directed by David Brooks
Written by Chris Sparling
Starring Alice Eve, Josh Peck, & Brian Geraghty

I always have to tip my hat to films that tell a story from one locale. Much like the found footage framework, the success or failure of these types of films has to do with the way the filmmakers sell the premise. Whether it is the reason why our cameraman doesn’t drop the camera or why our victims must stay in a particular locale, it’s the filmmaker’s job to make this work. In ATM, the premise in question is, how do you film a whole movie with the protagonists trapped inside of an ATM station without losing the audience’s interest and add extra weight to the ever ready fast-forward thumb?

For the most part, the filmmakers behind ATM are successful in setting up this scenario. After a quick snippet of our villain, a man in a furry hoodie jacket working meticulously over blueprints in an unknown locale, we skip to an office party where we are introduced to our heroes, David (Brian Geraghty) and Corey (Josh Peck of Nickelodeon’s DRAKE AND JOSH fame). The two friends quickly establish that David is the worrying type while Corey is the freewheeler. We also find out that David harbors a crush on his co-worker Emily (and who wouldn’t, when that co-worker is SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE’s Alice Eve?). After those threads of plot are tossed out, we quickly move to placing out three heroes into a secluded ATM station in the middle of the night. Soon furry hoodie man shows up and the trio find themselves trapped inside, fearful of what this mysterious and threatening man might do if they leave.

Though the meticulous planning the unnamed, unidentified villain goes to in order to trap these three people reaches SAW machination levels of implausibility, the strength of the three actors sells this film. The actors are likable (though Josh Peck is supposed to be smarmy and does so in a capable manner here) which makes you actually give a shit whether hoodie man beats them to death or not.

The ending of this film attempts to be twisty, but takes quite a few leaps in logic in order to sell the pill they are offering viewers to swallow after viewing this traumatic ordeal. Still, I admire director David Brooks and writer Chris Sparling for successfully selling the premise to me as a viewer in that I bought into the fact that these three young adults are trapped in an ATM and it sustained my interest in this premise for the entire running time. Like FROZEN, OPEN WATER, and BURIED (which Sparling also wrote) before it, ATM proves to be a single locale thriller that has some nice thrills, some brutal kills, and a bit farfetched but still entertaining premise.

Check out the trailer here!!