ATM (2012) Review

We’re all afraid of what strangers are capable of. You never know if someone you don’t know is a psychotic and methodical killer just looking for someone to play his sick game with. But how can three individuals locked in a supposedly secure public financial institution manage to be terrorized by one masked man in the middle of a cold, cold night. Director David Brooks gives us ATM, where David, Corey, and Emily will experience that very nightmare.

After another average day at the financial firm, David (Brian Geraghty) and his friend Corey (Josh Peck) stay for the Christmas party in hopes that David will finally make the move on Emily (Alice Eve), the girl he’s had his eyes on. By the end of the night, David manages to come up with the right words, and Emily is just as nervous as he is. He offers to drive her home and it looks like they’re going to have some cozy alone time, until Corey pushes his way into the carpool. As if that’s not bad enough, Corey can’t just sit quietly until he reaches his destination. No, instead he berates David to stop for food, but is forced to settles on a drive-by to an ATM. A serious of unfortunate events lead the three of them in a night only imagined in nightmares.

My interest in this film was its use of creative tactics of terrorization depicted in the trailer. But the farther the picture moved along I was left wondering where all the excitement was. The overall model of ATM is very cookie-cutter. It’s your typical “mystery-killer-survival-thriller” movie where the characters are suddenly caught in the web of a devious and malicious spider. And as the game continues to play, you and the victims continue to ask “why is this happening?” All the predictable milestones where hit: phones and vehicles are immediately nixed, a fierce act of violence by the killer to incite a high level of fear, a police man stumbles upon the scenario but doesn’t get more than five words out before his demise, and finally the victims murder an innocent person under false pretenses (i.e. they thought it was him). Though you may think I’m giving a lot away by telling you this, the last third of the movie will hold enough plot twists to make up for the predictability.

Like I previously mentioned, unfortunately ATM felt right out of the oven of the sub-genre. Despite its use of a unique (though mundane) location, the general building blocks didn’t have any originality. The camera work was enough to convey the story and nothing further. Maybe if they’d injected a little shaky cam things would’ve felt less neat and tidy. But it’s the characters we should really be concerned with. Sadly, they too were one-dimensional. I was surprised to see Josh Peck from Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh playing a crass, foul-mouthed booze jockey who has trouble thinking of anyone but himself. Then again it’s not uncommon for actors to try and get outside their comfort zone by leaping into horror. I believed the awkward chemistry between (David) and (__) but when it came to being terrified while trapped inside an ATM by a faceless capture, they dropped the ball.

Savage Score deposits a 2.5 out of 5. I wouldn’t pay ten dollars for this, like I did, but if you’re bored and need something without a whole lot going on to tune in to, feel free to pick up ATM. Gore score is a squishy 4 out of 10 but it could’ve used much more. If you’re particularly afraid of trapped scenarios and have the curiosity to find out how this film ends, wait in line and enter the ATM.