ATM by Chris Sparling

After reading and enjoying “Buried”, which recently premiered at Sundance this year, I jumped at the chance to read “ATM”, another script written by Chris Sparling.

It is clear why this script was acquired so quickly. It is a page turner to be sure, and not surprisingly it follows the same formula as “Buried”. “ATM” tells a story of three young people trapped in an ATM alcove in bitterly cold temperatures, terrorized by a killer blocking their escape.

These two scripts are the perfect definition of “give me the same, but different”.

• Both scripts have minimal locations
• Both focus on impending death in a confined space
• Both have time constraints (running out of air, freezing to death)
• Both scripts are bleak and do not end in a good way

In “ATM”, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. The result is 104 pages of unrelenting misery. It never lets up. I was hoping for one or two scenes where the victims prevail over their captor, if even for just a short while, so I could catch my breath. I felt it took too long to get to the meat of the story. But even with these minor points, it’s a good read and I look forward to seeing it on the big screen, should it successfully make it through all the hoops it takes to get a film made these days.

Find the script here.