ATM

Shy David (Brian Geraghty) has had a bad day at the office and just wants to get home early. It is, after all, just a few days before Christmas.

His friend and colleague Corey (Josh Peck) persuades him to stay on for a drink at the office party. Learning that the girl he's always fancied but never had the guts to ask out will be there for one last time before she changes jobs, David agrees to pop along for one drink.

David does indeed get talking to said girl, the pretty Emily (Alice Eve), and even manages to offer her a lift home when he later spies her outside struggling to flag down a taxi.

Unfortunately he's also obliged to give the obnoxious Corey a lift home. On the way, Corey insists he needs to stop off for a pizza. But first, he says, he needs to withdraw some cash. David ends up taking him to the nearest ATM, located in the darkest corner of a remote car park.

It's past midnight and the car park appears to be deserted. David and Emily wait in the car while Corey ventures into the ATM's glass port-a-cabin housing. After a few minutes, they both leave the car to join him, and discover he was having problems using his card.

David withdraws money on Corey's behalf, the threesome turn to leave, and ... a huge figure in a Parka stands motionless outside, facing them. Fearing they are about to be mugged, David and his friends are reluctant to leave the ATM terminal.

They're even less inclined to do so when, moments later, an elderly guy walks past with his dog and is brutally murdered by the hooded assailant.

So, if they won't come out, this psycho must think of a way to flush them out. Unfortunately for them, the car is parked a good 100 metres away and all of their mobile telephones have been left in it...

ATM's screenplay was written by Chris Sparling, the guy who also gave us BURIED. Once again, the emphasis is on a single setting where characters are trapped in a bid to elicit claustrophobic terror.

Whereas BURIED was taut and original, relying mostly on a singular excellent performance, ATM is sadly saddled with too unlikely a scenario and characters who are so lacking in resourcefulness that you can't help but be irritated by them.

Performances are good and David Brooks' direction does admittedly muster a fair amount of tension during the set-piece scenes. But there's a silliness to the initial premise and an incredulous reaction to how the three protagonists react to their situation that help ATM recall P2 before anything else. And that's not a particularly good thing.

The economic setting and casting isn't an issue, but the fact that at least one of the main characters - Corey is so unsympathetic - is. How can we possibly root for his safe survival? On the flip side of the coin, the killer is faceless: some back-story or motivation wouldn't have gone amiss.

Mainly though, the film is dumb. These kids would have ran like fuck to their car in minutes, in reality. Instead they do everything but. All of which leads to a sly conclusion and, inevitably an open door which allows for any potential sequel...

This UK DVD presents ATM uncut and in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The picture has been enhanced for 16x9 televisions and is a very strong proposition.

Colours are bright and natural, blacks are solid, flesh-tones are accurate: this clean and sharp presentation is very impressive.

English 5.1 audio is also extremely well rendered, with robust use of the different channels and sufficient bass to help accentuate the jumpy score in all the right places. Optional English subtitles are also provided for the hard-of-hearing.

The disc opens to an animated main menu page. From there, a static scene-selection menu allows access to the film via 12 chapters.

In terms of bonus features, all we get is a 7-minute Behind The Scenes featurette. Effectively an EPK-style propaganda piece, this mixes talking head-style sound-bites from cast and crew members with the odd bit of on-set footage. Hearing all concerned gush over how the film strives for "realism" ... well, it's a shame but you can't help but think they were hugely unsuccessful.

The disc is defaulted to open with trailers for RAPTURE PALOOZA, SPIDERS 3D, TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D and A TRAP FOR CINDERELLA.

ATM isn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination - in fact, it's quietly efficient at what it does. But it's silly and once, the smoke has settled following its hyperbolic set-pieces, makes very little sense. The twist is fun in a sadistic way though.

There, I did it. I got through this review without once mentioning ass-to-mouth...

Review by Stuart Willis