Chernobyl Diaries

[Impact]

Review, Discuss and Have Fun!

[baumer]

There are films where you fear for the characters in it. Blair With Project, Halloween, Jaws to name just a few. But rarely have i seen a film where you actually feel badly for the characters you are watching. This film does that to you. It gives you a genuine sorrow for them as no matter what scenario you come up with, you just can't see it ending well for any of them.I remember when I watched Friday the 13th the remake one of the actors stood out to me and that was Jonathan Sadowski, who played Wade, the guy who finds the pot plants while his friends are off having sex. He had a small part of course, but I remembered him more than the rest. His mannerisms, his comic timing and his manic and hurried speech. It all stood out. When I first saw Paul in this film, I didn't make the connection right away. He looked thinner in here and he was without glasses. But as time went on, he became more and more recognizable and that to me is the sign of a good actor. You remember them even if you don't quite place them perfectly. Here, he is, imo, brilliant. He's the risk taker but the he's also the protective figure as his younger brother comes to see him in Kiev. He exuded a certain confidence to him and I'm glad to see Sadowski getting more work. I think you'll be seeing more of him in the future.Chernobyl Diaries, according to imdb was filmed in Serbia and Hungary. It's hard to find credible information to indicate whether or not this was actually filmed at Chernobyl. But if it wasn't they did a pretty damned good job of making it look like they did. According to Oren Peli, they filmed in some old Nazi Bunkers in Belgrade, Serbia. But there are exterior shots that look like the site of the infamous reactor. Either way, the location is one of bright spots of the movie. It provides all kinds of creepy atmosphere and tension. The dark, narrow tunnels, the dust and the old abandoned equipment, the aged and bucolic landscapes, it all gets inside your head. While some have complained about generic scares and the fact that you ostensibly know when the shocking parts are coming, that really didn't bother me. A horror movie is effective when you feel for your characters. This wasn't terrifying like The Ring and it wasn't as intense as John Carpenter's Halloween, but it is a film that makes you uneasy and as I said earlier, you fear for the characters. By the end when you know inevitably that it can not turn out good for anyone, I wanted all of them to die quickly, because the alternative was no so pleasant.Sometimes, as they say, death is not the worst things that can happen to you.9/10

[baumer]

I hope more people give this a chance.

[CJohn]

Opens here on June 14. May check it out after reading your review B.

[Michael Gary Scott]

I thought this was horrible. I saw 7 movies this past weekend and this was definitely the worst. 3/10

[Vanilla]

I thought it was pretty scary overall and agree with baumer about caring for the characters. However I did not like it as much as baumer.7/10

[rockNrollaDIM]

I hope more people give this a chance.

Glad you liked it... Horror is your thing so if you approve, it must be pretty good. I've always thought it was an interesting premise... Probably won't see it until it comes on Redbox or something, though.

[Captain Craig]

Grade: B-

I felt the build up took awhile in this film. Maybe I was already jaded going in expecting at best one survivor and just waiting for the kills to happen. Once things got going the tension was there but I asked myself, "whos filming". I feel this is where the ball was dropped for the "shaky cam" film we got. They start by making sure you see Chris filming but even before the terror starts you can always see out main players on camera. Wheras Orin Peli has the set up in Paranormal Activity to explain things, here he should've just maybe shot the film 'straight'.

You just kinda knew they were going to end up at the reactors. You do kinda feel bad for them but I blame their guide Uri. He clearly knew things were askew. Why would he leave the van unlocked? Better, if you want it always in sight. Drive to each location, don't ever abandon your ride.

[mattmav45]

Absolutely fucking terrible.Sometimes I feel like I'm a glutton for punishment, as I like to see almost all released films because I enjoy critiquing them. In this case, I was watching the seconds crawl by before the midway point. It's not scary, it's boring as fuck, and the characters are so damn stupid and annoying that I started rooting for their demise. Easily one of the worst, and maybe the worst of 2012.D

[ainsleyb]

5/10

 

Poor horror film with no genuine tension or scares to be had. The acting is below average and I felt nothing for the characters. They did create a very believable Chernobyl set though. I was much more interested when they were walking around the ruins of Chernobyl than I was during the 'horror' scenes. 

[Fancyarcher]

This is an extremely predictable film, and a bad one at that too. The twists and turns that happen in this film are stupid. The characters are stock (and not good stock), the only character I actually liked was Yuri and he’s the first to go. The best scenes are at the beginning when they walking around Chernobyl, after that though it goes downhill and fast.

 

It would have been more interesting if they had gone for the mutated animal / bear aspect like they did at the beginning, instead of the more predictable zombie approach they took at the end.

 

This movie was stupid not scary. I have a hard time deciding if this or A Good Day to Die Hard were the worst movies with Chernobyl in them.

 

2 / 10

[Goffe]

how studios still release this kind of crap in theaters? F (10)

Edited September 30, 2013 by Goffe