Corey (Josh Peck) is a dick.
First, he guilts David the office nice guy into hanging around for a Christmas party he’d rather miss.
Second, he dominates the party conversation with his boorish behaviour, boring stories and belittling of others.
Third, when David flukes his way into giving the office – and All World – hottie Emily (Alice Eve) a ride home, Corey demands a lift, where he predictably does all he can to inadvertently ruin any potential moments between David and Emily.
Fourthly, David decides he is hungry. At midnight. In the cold. With nothing open. Even if it continues to prevent his two travelling companions from getting to know each other
And Fifth, David has no money, and again demands that they go out of the way to stop at an atm. Adding another unnecessary step and ultimately placing all three of their lives in danger.
Of course it’s the third thing that is most heinous. Most guys will never get the chance to see an Alice Eve type in the flesh. David gets the chance to offer her a ride home, and so called mate Corey fucks it.
Once the hooded figure appears outside the atm structure, I immediately hoped he would pluck Corey’s eyes from his head and feed them to him. Unfortunately while the menacing character almost instantly shows his hand by killing innocent bystanders outside, all that happens thereafter is a blatant abuse of logic and common sense.
You would think having a standalone atm in the middle of a car park is a little silly. It is the least silly thing that follows. The hooded figure has the patience of a statue and the pointless inventiveness of the Collector. He spends an entire night hovering outside rather than taking on the problem head on, leading you to wonder how committed he is to his job.
And in what reality is it easier to flood an atm vestibule than to ram the glass walls. This fisherman would rather look at the contents of the aquarium than catch them.
Perhaps scariest of all, are the allusions to the fact that this was all mapped out, considered and planned. No number of blueprints can have me swallow that dross, especially with key plot developments requiring random occurrences and found tools.
Your satisfaction with atm will depend on your ability to forgive. If you can choose to ignore every fibre screaming “but why?” with each new silly development, there are a couple suspenseful moments. And if you are really looking for a plus, remember it’s a mercifully short film.
Final Rating – 5.5 / 10. Ordinarily the worst thing that can happen at an atm is finding you have nothing to withdraw… Actually that’s still scarier than this.
