Chernobyl Diaries Review

Being a big fan of Paranormal Activity and having an interest in nuclear disasters, I was rather looking forward to Chernobyl Diaries, which is written and produced by Oren Peli, the man behind the horror franchise (for the record, I have yet to subject myself to the far less warmly received sequels).Chernobyl Diaries follows a group of twenty-somethings who, in the name of ‘extreme tourism’, sign up for a guided tour of Prypiat, the city which was home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and their families, which was abandoned in 1986 after the disaster. Unluckily, the group’s tour bus is damaged, leaving them stuck in the deserted city whereupon they are attacked by unknown entities. Who will survive and what will be left of them?

Let’s get the hard facts out of the way first: the damage done by the Chernobyl disaster is much less than you might think. Physicians and radiologists from the World Health Organisation estimate that the accident caused ‘just’ seventy-five deaths, rather than the tens of thousands reported by many news organisations. So not only is it highly unlikely but also pretty disrespectful to the people who lived in Prypiat to suggest that there remains a homicidal sect of gribblies looking to hunt and kill attractive American tourists. But that’s okay, this is a horror film; scientific accuracy and inoffensiveness are not necessarily prerequisites. Unfortunately, the film is disappointing on its own merits.

Firstly and most concerning, it’s really not scary enough. Sure, debutant director Bradley Parker conjures some moments of real tension, but that isn’t the same as a proper moment of pant-wetting terror. The jumps are telegraphed a mile off and anyone with more than a basic level of familiarity with the horror genre will probably not be too troubled by the film. Additionally, a lot of shaky cam, muffled screams and distorted noises aren’t scary, they’re just annoying.

Narratively the film is flawed too. It’s one thing to leave matters ambiguous, to show rather than tell, it’s another not to throw the audience the smallest bone as to why things are happening and why the characters have been motivated to behave in the ways that they do. As such, it’s difficult to care or empathise with them. Whereas the couple in Paranormal Activity had to go to bed every night and risk being terrorised by a mysterious force, this bunch of yahoos elect to get into to a bus with an ex-military type and surreptitiously visit an abandoned and contaminated city. The idiots.

There are things to like about the film. The use of location is great. It’s obvious to see why you’d want to stage a film in Prypiat (or a video game, as in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare); the eerie desolation, the starkness of the dilapidated buildings and that seemingly omnipresent Ferris wheel are unarguably cinematic and Parker captures these elements well. I also liked the way the film is shot, which is largely on roving handheld cameras, which looks like really well-shot found footage, but avoids having the narrative sticking point of why someone would choose to keep filming when all their friends are being eaten alive.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Chernobyl Diaries is a bad film; just a painfully average one. It’s disappointing that Peli has failed to produce something as engaging as his debut (though I’m still looking forward to seeing what his directorial follow-upArea 51 will be like), especially given the film’s fairly appealing set up and location. It’s something of a curio, then, which is probably going to struggle to find much of an audience as I don’t suppose the word of mouth on it will be particularly good. Perhaps the best it can hope for is to draw in Euro 2012 fans who want to see more of both the Ukraine and attacking forces ripping through puny defences.