Starring: Alice Eve, Josh Peck, and Brian Geraghty
I am always paranoid if I use an ATM at night. I have a fear that someone is going to sneak up behind me and rob me just as I’m keying in my code. The ATMs that require you to swipe your card to enter into a windowed room at the front of a building are even worse because then you’re trapped in a room. So ATM the movie is really my paranoia come to life, but on crack.
ATM is the story of David (Brian Geraghty), a young advisor at a huge, faceless financial corporation. David is roped into going to the office Christmas party by his co-worker and buddy Corey (Josh Peck), who also doubles as the office douchebag. At the party, David finally gets up the nerve to talk to Emily (Alice Eve) and after a few moments of flirting, ends up offering her a ride home. In full jerk mode (think Ryan Phillippe in I Know What You Did Last Summer), Corey insists on tagging along with David and Emily.
As the three co-workers head home, Corey wants to stop for cash so he can pick up a late night dinner. They stop at a standalone ATM that appears to be in the middle of nowhere. As they attempt to exit the ATM building, they see a man standing in the middle of the parking lot, staring at them ominously. Initially, they are unsure of the man’s intentions, but as they stand there, they watch the unknown stranger brutally murder a man out walking his dog. From that point on, David, Corey and Emily are thrown into a deadly fight for their lives.
I actually enjoyed ATM. It was a creative horror/thriller film with a truly menacing villain. There were a few real heart-pounding moments, and the plot kept me interested until the end as I tried to figure out what was driving the stranger to attack the protagonists. However, the film is not without its flaws. The dialogue at times is a bit cheesy and simplistic. In addition, ATM suffers from some of the same plot traps that most films in the horror genre do, namely characters doing stupid things (i.e. why park your car a million miles away from an ATM building in the middle of the night when the parking lot is completely empty?). But all in all, while the film was not ground breaking, it kept me entertained. I would recommend kicking back with a Corona, watching ATM On Demand and being reminded of the 99 reasons you should not go to an ATM in the middle of the night.
