Two brothers, Chris (Jesse McCartney) and Paul (Jonathan Sadowski), and their girlfriends, Natalie (Olivia Dudley) and Amanda (Devin Kelley), are in Russia when Paul decides it’s a good idea to delve into extreme tourism by visiting a ghost town near the Chernobyl disaster. They are joined by two backpackers, Zoe from Norway (Ingrid Berdal) and Michael from Australia (Nathan Phillips). Extreme tourist guide, Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko), takes them through a backroad into the ghost town and shows them around. This an interesting and somber moment in the film. In fact, Chernobyl Diaries has a classic slow build and slowly gets more and more intense as it goes on.
When they return to Uri’s van they find that wires in the engine have been destroyed. As night comes on they hear noises outside so Uri and Chris stupidly go to investigate, only Chris returns and his leg has been torn up by something. Later dogs attack the van. The next day most of them go to find help while Chris and Natalie stay behind since Chris can’t walk. The group find a parking lot full of dilapidated cars and luckily stumbles upon a replacement part for the van. They head back to find the van overturned and Chris and Natalie gone.
From there the film delves into the characters getting picked off one by one by what I can only describe as radioactive cannibals. Here the film begins to remind me of a sort of The Descent meets The Hills Have Eyes however not half as good as either film. That’s not to say Chernobyl Diaries is bad, it’s just not a classic like the others.
The biggest problem with Chernobyl is that most the film takes place at night and it’s such a dark film you never get to see the creatures that well. Maybe that is to cover up for poor production value, but I somehow doubt that. The little bits of creatures that I saw looked pretty creepy and cool. Also the film kind of falls apart at the end. What starts out as a strong and interesting premise gets less and less interesting as it reaches it’s conclusion.
There are certainly many tense moments in this film and I jumped on more than one occasion, but the ending just kind of petered out and did not live up to the scares and startles that were throughout the rest of the film.
This film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. This is a fine looking film. I don’t see the Blu-ray adding too much to the experience. It sounds fine too.
Alternate Ending: (2 min.) Kind of better because it doesn’t ruin the ending with gratuitous explanation. Uri’s Extreme Tours Infomercial (1 min.) This is hilarious. Chernobyl Conspiracy Viral Video: (2 min.) This is kind of lame. Deleted Scene: (1 min.) This is also kind of lame. DVD and Digital Copy
Chernobyl Diaries is worth watching if you’re into horror films, but it’s not one of the best you’re going to see. However it is still pretty entertaining and at under an hour and a half, it’s not going to waste too much of your time if you end up not liking it.
Warner Bros. presents Chernobyl Diaries. Written by: Oren Peli, Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke. Directed by: Bradley Parker. Starring: Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski and Olivia Dudley. Running time: 86 minutes. Rating: R. Released: October 16, 2012. Available at Amazon.com.
