Chernobyl Diaries

Chernobyl Diaries Information

Chernobyl Diaries is a 2012 American horror film directed by Brad Parker and produced by Oren Peli, who also wrote the story. It stars Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski, Devin Kelley, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Nathan Phillips, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, and Dimitri Diatchenko. The film uses the real-life 1986 Chernobyl disaster for its backdrop. It was shot on location in Hungary and Serbia.

Plot

Chris (Jesse McCartney), his girlfriend Natalie (Olivia Taylor Dudley), and their mutual friend Amanda (Devin Kelley), are traveling across Europe. They stop in Kiev, Ukraine, to visit Chris's brother, Paul (Jonathan Sadowski), before heading on to Moscow, where Chris intends to propose to Natalie.

Paul suggests they go for an "extreme tour" of Pripyat, the abandoned company town which sits in the shadow of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Chris is against going on the extreme tour to explore Pripyat as it's dangerous and would rather stay on the original path in going to Moscow. They meet tour guide Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko), and are joined by a backpacking couple, Norwegian Zoe (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and Australian Michael (Nathan Phillips). Uri drives them through the wilds of Ukraine, before they arrive at a Chernobyl Exclusion Zone checkpoint, where they are refused entry by Ukrainian military. Uri takes them to an abandoned checkpoint he discovered years ago.

The group stop at a river where they discover a large, mutated fish. The friends are worried about radiation poisoning, but Uri assures their safety with a Geiger counter. After spending a few hours exploring the abandoned city, Uri takes them to the upper floor of an apartment building and shows them the Chernobyl nuclear plant on the near horizon. After hearing noises at the other end of the apartment, a huge bear runs through the hallway past them, scaring but leaving them relieved that it wasn't something worse.

The group prepares to leave Pripyat and Uri finds the wires in his van have been chewed through. He tries to radio the military for help, to no avail. As night falls, Uri and Chris go out to investigate some noises. Shots are heard and Paul runs out, only to return with Chris whose leg has been severely mauled.

The next day, Paul, Michael, and Amanda go looking for Uri. They follow a trail of blood to find Uri's mutilated body. They take his gun and return to the van. Amanda checks her camera and one of the pictures shows a humanoid creature inside one of the apartment buildings. Natalie stays with the wounded Chris while the others start the 20 kilometer (12 mile) hike to a checkpoint.

Paul, Amanda, Michael and Zoe find a parking lot, where they find parts for the van. On the way back they are chased by dogs and also attacked by mutant fish in a stream. Night falls as the group returns to the van, only to find it ripped to shreds. They find Natalie's video camera, showing that she and Chris were taken by humanoid mutants. While searching for the two, the group is chased by more mutants.

During their escape, a traumatized Natalie is found and rescued, but when the group gets distracted, Natalie is captured again. The rest of the group is swarmed by a horde of mutants. While retreating through an underground passage, Michael is captured. As they continue, they find Chris' engagement ring for Natalie, with no sign of Chris. While climbing a ladder, a gang of mutants pull Zoe back down, forcing Amanda and Paul to leave her behind, emerging from the passage right beside the damaged reactor. Paul recognizes that extremely high radiation levels are causing their skin to blister. They come upon Natalie's body before emerging outside, where they are confronted by Ukrainian military personnel. Blinded by radiation damage, Paul stumbles toward the soldiers, who shoot him dead.

Amanda passes out and later awaken on a gurney. Several doctors, in protective hazmat suits, inform her that she is in a hospital. Talking among themselves, the doctors reveal that the "creatures" were escaped patients who have been recaptured. With the other Americans dead, they decide that Amanda knows too much and can't be allowed to leave. Amanda is thrown into a dark cell, and says "Who's there" before being attacked by the creatures, as the doctor closes the door's viewing shutter.

Cast

Jesse McCartney as Chris
Jonathan Sadowski as Paul
Devin Kelley as Amanda
Olivia Taylor Dudley as Natalie
Nathan Phillips as Michael
Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Zoe
Dimitri Diatchenko as Uri

Release

The film, produced by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros., was released in Russia, Canada, Bulgaria and the United States on May 25, 2012. It went on general release in the United Kingdom on June 22.

Home media

Chernobyl Diaries was released to DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 16, 2012.

Reception

Prior to film's release, the Friends of Chernobyl Centers, U.S., had said that the film's plot was insensitive to those who died and were injured in the disaster, also the movie was sensationalizing events that had "tragic human consequences". In response, the producer, Oren Peli, said that his film was done with the utmost respect for the victims, and that the Israeli charity Chabad's Children of Chernobyl wrote him a letter expressing their "admiration" and "kudos" for his creation. Despite this claim, others described the film as a "plot-less mess of disaster porn" citing UK based charity 'Chernobyl Children's Lifeline' who thought it was "disgusting".

Critics were not granted the usual pre-screening—a deft decision given that the film has received negative reviews, currently holding a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 80 reviews. The websites' consensus is "Despite an interesting premise and spooky atmospherics, Chernobyl Diaries is mostly short on suspense and originality." Critics at Spill.com acknowledged the filmmakers' attempts to create a chilling atmosphere, but criticized the film's shallow characters, numerous cliches, and failure to deliver even the most basic special effects. Mark Olsen, a critic from Los Angeles Times, says: "The lack of suspense and surprise in this dispiritingly rote film becomes its own form of contamination." Positive reviews notably include Frank Scheck from Hollywood Reporter who said: "A basic monster movie that benefits greatly from its unique setting, Chernobyl Diaries again demonstrates Oren Peli's ability to wrest scares with minimal production values and a clever premise."