By Geno McGahee
There are a lot of bad horror films of late, but every once in a while, we get a particularly good one. ATM is written Chris Sparling and directed by David Brooks. Together they created the most intense film I have seen since VACANCY in 2007.
We begin with David (Brian Geraghty). He is having a tough time at work and it is especially tough because the girl that he likes, Emily (Alice Eve) is moving on to another job. David isn’t smooth with the ladies and his one approach to Emily was an embarrassing failure, but his friend, Corey (Josh Peck), keeps encouraging him to give it another go.
At a work party, David gets another chance and approaches Emily and the two click. He offers her a ride home and she accepts but there is a snag when Corey demands a ride home as well. Corey is very unlikable and is very pushy. On top of forcing his way into the car for a ride home, he needs to hit an ATM and get some pizza from a late night pizza joint. David’s refusals go ignored and he eventually brings his friend to the ATM.
In the middle of an empty parking lot, the three go to the ATM. Inside of the building, they look out and see a masked man standing in the distance, staring at them. They begin to get nervous and officially freak out when they witness him murder a man at random, violently. The trio are convinced that the killer cannot get into the ATM and decide to stay inside, but the game has just begun. The killer cut off the heat and the temperature is -6 degrees, and none of them are wearing their winter coats. They are going to freeze to death if they stay or get killed if they run away.
Every time that they see salvation, they see death. They are trapped and begin turning on each other as the killer sits in a chair and enjoys the show. To make things worse, the ATM begins filling with water when the killer fetches a fire hose and shoots the water in through the vents. He has also driven a vehicle and put it against the door, making the freezing of the trio inevitable.
ATM is one of those movies that you can put yourself into rather easily. The acting is superb and the pacing is outstanding. Once this movie gets going, you won’t take your eyes off of the screen and I didn’t. This film proves that there is still good horror out there and that there are still writers and directors that care about the story that they are putting forth and are not merely trying to regurgitate the same storylines over and over again, which has become the norm in Hollywood. This is a great flick.
My only complaint about this film was the ending. I wasn’t hoping for some unbelievable twist, but when it was over, my reaction was something along the lines of: “Oh.” I guess the reasoning for the murders is pretty scary, but as a horror film guy, I guess I expected something stranger.
ATM, despite my minor gripe at the end, is an exceptional horror film. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 8/10
I agree that Atm is the exception – interesting that Corey thought the reason for their predicament was because david mismanaged a clients 401k thus causing said clients retaliation and it was about vengeance – then David states in a impersonal way that the customer was 60 and it couldn’t be him??!!
That it takes place in an atm is ironic since it seems even less threatening than sic a phone booth – one never thinks of an atm being a place of horror, despair and hopelessness … or are there people that always feel that way in their atm visits in todays lousy economy??
The horrible realization that the banking system really is totally uncaring about a customers safety and it is only when bank property itself is damaged is when the police come running, so to me the impersonal quality of the ending and the rats in a maze response by the victims David, Corey and Emily seems indicative of what happens in our society when bank cameras seem to frame the event totally out of context but will probably be the credible witness to what had taken place. The ending seemed prescient of how we are loosing touch with each other and the services that are supposed to have fail safes for our safety are not maintained due to staffing and expense to the institution.- collectively we are starting to realize that there may fewer fail safes in our lives then we realized!
peace mike
Great post Mike! You are 100% right. Thanks for the comment and ATM is a great flick. I agree with your points my friend. The banks are frustrating a lot of people…me included. 🙂
Geno