Director: David Brooks
Cast: Alice Eve, Josh Peck, Brian Geraghaty
Release Date: April 6, 2012
MPAA: Rating Unknown
With many films these days being left on shelf for no one to ever see, Video on Demand has allowed for many of these films to find a home. One of the latest films I have seen on Video on Demand is the thriller "ATM". This film is about three co-workers (Alice Eve, Josh Peck, and Brian Geraghaty) who stop at an ATM to grab some cash to go out to eat and a killer traps them inside the ATM as they fight to survive.
The film takes the overused premise and confining characters to a small setting for an entire film and pretty much doesn't add anything new to the film as it is all things that have been seen before. What this film does make up for it in those is great chilling moments that literally have you on the edge of your seat the entire film. Every thing that the killer does is frightening and certain moments that don't make any since like the first person that killer takes out, why would he be out doing that at two in the morning, but the tensity of the scene makes up for the moment.
The characters in this film are pretty cliched with the main character being the nice sensitive guy, his best friend being a jerk, and the girl who is basically just a damsel in distress. With these character cliches it makes the film seem less realistic and more fake, but it wasn't a big deal as it was still easy to root for these characters. The actors were fine in their performances but none of them stood out and can really attribute that to the writers fought because these were all fine actors in the roles. The actions of the characters can also be seen as pretty dumb as no one in their right mind would act the way they did with a killer only about 50 feet away from them. Near the end of the film when they were in a time crunch they did make one move that I thought was pretty clever but that was about it.
With everything that had happened prior to the third act, I would still say the film was a very enjoyable horror film but that final act just ruined and turn everything that the film had done prior on it's head. After I had watched the film I had to ask someone of what had just happened because none of it really made to much sense. The ultimate disappointed of the film though was the killer's motivation for doing all of this as I was hoping for some bigger revelation at the end.
In the end, this movie proved that enclosing your characters in a small spot for an entire film rarely works with only exceptions such as 2010 film "Buried". The film proved great thrills and left you on the edge of your seat the entire film to watch. If the film would have had some better writing and pacing, especially during the film's third act I would have believed this film had the makings of a cult classic. I recommend that this films pretty good if you are bored one night looking for a nice little horror movie to watch but other than that I don't see a true reason to go see this movie.
With many films these days being left on shelf for no one to ever see, Video on Demand has allowed for many of these films to find a home. One of the latest films I have seen on Video on Demand is the thriller "ATM". This film is about three co-workers (Alice Eve, Josh Peck, and Brian Geraghaty) who stop at an ATM to grab some cash to go out to eat and a killer traps them inside the ATM as they fight to survive.
The film takes the overused premise and confining characters to a small setting for an entire film and pretty much doesn't add anything new to the film as it is all things that have been seen before. What this film does make up for it in those is great chilling moments that literally have you on the edge of your seat the entire film. Every thing that the killer does is frightening and certain moments that don't make any since like the first person that killer takes out, why would he be out doing that at two in the morning, but the tensity of the scene makes up for the moment.
The characters in this film are pretty cliched with the main character being the nice sensitive guy, his best friend being a jerk, and the girl who is basically just a damsel in distress. With these character cliches it makes the film seem less realistic and more fake, but it wasn't a big deal as it was still easy to root for these characters. The actors were fine in their performances but none of them stood out and can really attribute that to the writers fought because these were all fine actors in the roles. The actions of the characters can also be seen as pretty dumb as no one in their right mind would act the way they did with a killer only about 50 feet away from them. Near the end of the film when they were in a time crunch they did make one move that I thought was pretty clever but that was about it.
With everything that had happened prior to the third act, I would still say the film was a very enjoyable horror film but that final act just ruined and turn everything that the film had done prior on it's head. After I had watched the film I had to ask someone of what had just happened because none of it really made to much sense. The ultimate disappointed of the film though was the killer's motivation for doing all of this as I was hoping for some bigger revelation at the end.
In the end, this movie proved that enclosing your characters in a small spot for an entire film rarely works with only exceptions such as 2010 film "Buried". The film proved great thrills and left you on the edge of your seat the entire film to watch. If the film would have had some better writing and pacing, especially during the film's third act I would have believed this film had the makings of a cult classic. I recommend that this films pretty good if you are bored one night looking for a nice little horror movie to watch but other than that I don't see a true reason to go see this movie.
Final Grade: D+
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