Review by Ken King
THANK YOU TIP JAR ATM - 2012 USA Release: July 18, 2012 Tangled Web Productions, Warm Weather Internationl group de Venezuela, Amblin Entertainment, Hollywood Pictures Rating: USA: PG-13

"Tequila is a superfood. Like blueberries."
-Corey.

This movie made me angry. Not in various place throughout, as some films are wont to do as say, a favorite character winds up dying and you didn't want that to happen, or characters are mistreated and there's not a thing can be done for it because that is the sort of movie you knew you were getting into. There are a multitude of reasons one might get the least bit torqued when watching a flick, but most of the time it is warranted. Most of the time. Then there are those times such is not the case.

ATM is such a case.

I did not like SAW for many reasons, none that I will get into here. ATM had some similarities to the other aforementioned flick, but it wasn't a complete rip-off. Far from it.

When you make a film that is centralized for the vast majority of its runtime in one location, especially one that is a tight space like the title of the movie suggests, it is easy to screw up big time and the end result turn out to be one, giant mess. This is director, David Brooks, first and only feature. Before this, he directed a short film called, Gone (2009), but most of his credits lie with being either a producer, or editor. I have to say, he did a fine job for most of his first feature. The tension was amped up to ten and at times, past that. He had three actors, known to some extent,
Alice Eve (THE RAVEN, MEN IN BLACK 3, STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS, MISCONDUCT, CRIMINAL, REPLICAS, THE POWER [TV]),
Brian Geraghty (CRUEL WORLD, I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, THE HURT LOCKER, OPEN HOUSE, THE ALIENIST [TV], TRUE BLOOD [TV], THE POWER [TV]), and
Josh Peck (THE LABYRINTH [2017], DOORS), so Brooks wasn't dealing with first timers who needed a lot of direction to play their parts adequately. These are for the most part seasoned professionals. Trust me when I say, I had zero problems with them.

The movie poster by Vodka Creative.
By their re-arranging the standard movie poster in all ways,
my first impression in the theater, from a distance, was only the hooded figure in the parka.
It's only as I walked toward it did I begin to notice the tiny figures in the ATM beneath,
practically held in place by the weight of the credits. It's only when I was at point blank that I saw their apprehensive faces.
The poster was created to gradually reveal the movie's concept as you got approached the
dominating image of the killer! Brilliant!

I also didn't have an issue with David Buckley, the composer for this movie, who has some very impressive scores to his resume including: TELL TALE, BLOOD CREEK, BRAIN DEAD [TV], THE GIFTED [TV], UNHINGED. David Brooks did the editing on his film, and it was practically flawless.

So, what is my gripe?

The ending.

That goddamn ending.

The very same gripe I had with SAW.

The ending.

That goddamn ending.

Yes, it is possible to ruin a perfectly good film with its ending. SAW managed to do it for me. ATM also managed to do it for me.

The screenplay by Chris Sparling (BURIED, THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE, THE SEA OF TREES, MERCY, DOWN A DARK HALL, GREENLAND), from a pitch by Ron Tippe, is a simple one: Three colleagues, Emily Brandt (Eve), David Hargrove (Geraghty) and Corey Thompson (Peck) attend a Christmas office party thrown by their finance company. It is to be Emily's last evening as an employee there, as she has received a promotion to become one of the higher-ups. David has had a crush on her since he has known her but hasn't had the cojones to approach her to ask her out. After hem-hawing about at the party, he follows her outside when she exits, to where she is having a hard time catching a cab. David offers to drive her home and she accepts. Corey came with David and he is his ride. Conveniently, Corey has no money to catch a cab, like Emily tried to do, so reluctantly, David caves and agrees to take Corey home on the way to drop Emily off.

While they ride along, Corey pipes up needing to get something to eat at the only place open. Still claiming to have no money on him (neither do David and Emily) and that the place only accepts cash, he needs to make a quick stop by the ATM on the way. Once more, David caves into his friend's shortsighted, drunken obnoxiousness.

The trio drive up to an ATM in the middle of nowhere. Corey gets out and goes into the small enclosure that contains the money machine. After a bit, David sees Corey is having trouble and gets out to go see what is up, leaving Emily alone. Then after a minute or two, she follows the two men inside the ATM.

Shortly thereafter, the fun begins.

A dude (Mike O'Brian) in a heavy parka menaces them all through the early morning hours. Outside, the temperature is dropping lower in the negative numbers which was sitting at -3 at the beginning of the movie. Inside the ATM, it's getting colder, as well. The man in the parka is outside all this time. He has killed others, but seems to merely be playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, daring his prey to step out of the "safety" of the ATM, and wants to do them in and do it oh, so slowly...

Eventually, the cops do show up. Not that it really matters at this point. The damage has been done, figuratively and literally.

None of the stuff I described above bothered me. There were times I wish it would step up in places, but overall, it wasn't something that would give me a reason to really knock the film makers for.

But...

The ending.

That goddamn ending.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Maybe my going on and on about the ending is my own personal biases taking precedence over all the good that actually is contained within this film and there is a lot to sing the praises of, no doubt. That being said, I recommend giving it a watch so you can make up your own mind if I'm just losing it, or I'm right on the money. I don't know everything. Never professed to. I just feel that after all the characters were put through, as well as the audience, we all deserve a better explanation than we ultimately got.

Three Shriek Girls.

This review copyright 2021 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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