If you're looking to make your first film, a single-location thriller seems to be a pretty good way of doing it; a small cast, a manageable shoot, and a simple canvas on which to show off your direction (indeed, not so long ago, we ran a list of some of the best of the genre). That's the approach David Brooks has taken with his debut "ATM," which comes from the pen of Chris Sparling, a man who knows a thing or two about single-locations, having written the Ryan Reynolds vehicle "Buried," which was set, entirely, in a coffin.
By comparison, "ATM," which has just unveiled its first trailer on IMDB (via HeyUGuys), is positively luxurious in terms of its space, set in an ATM cubicle in the middle of a parking lot. "The Hurt Locker" star Brian Geraghty, Alice Eve (soon to start filming on "Star Trek 2)" and Josh Peck ("The Wackness") star as three colleagues who stop at the titular cash machine, and find themselves trapped and menaced by a mysterious, murderous figure in a parka. Is it someone they know? Is it an eskimo? Is it Scott Pilgrim?
The trailer's not giving it away, but it looks like a decent enough thriller to pass the time. Brooks has certainly helped things along by casting three strong actors in his leads, and seems to be wringing every possible outcome out of his premise. These things can be tricky to sustain across 90 minutes or so, however, as "Buried" proved (although it can help matters if your character is so unlikable that you're happy to see him trapped in a box), so we'll see how "ATM" pulls it off. IFC Midnight will be release the film on VOD and Digital Platforms (iTunes, Amazon Streaming, XBox ZUNE, PS3 Video Unlimited) on March 2nd before opening in theaters on April 6th.
Dear PLAYLIST staff, what the hell are you smoking? this looks bad, joel schumakarish. bad.
it seems silly – surely they could just destroy one of the ATMs and it would send a signal to the police, no?