CHERNOBYL DIARIES

Release: May 24, 2012 (U.S. Theatrical) 
Directed by: Bradley Parker
Written by: Shane Van Dyke, Carey Van Dyke and Oren Peli

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

Oren Peli made a name for himself as the writer, director, editor, producer, cinematographer, (yeah, everything) of Paranormal Activity back in 2007, and he served as the writer and producer of the first and second sequels to this franchise. He also executive produced and wrote most of the episodes of the horror-on-TV attempt The River. Peli wrote the screenplay and produced Chernobyl Diaries, and thankfully the decision was made along the way to forgo the “found footage” hand held camera methodology, unlike the Paranormal films.

The premise behind Chernobyl Diaries is an “extreme tourism” excursion to the abandoned town of Pripyat, the place where all of the employees and their families lived who worked on Reactor #4 at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. In 1986 that reactor exploded and sent nuclear fallout into the atmosphere, and the residents of Pripyat were evacuated so suddenly that they had to leave all of their possessions behind. Now, 25 years later, the levels of radioactivity have presumably declined enough to be “safe”, and Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko) makes his living bringing tourists to the site to see the aftermath of the devastation for themselves.

The current band of travelers don’t seem particularly alarmed when the military checkpoint at the entrance to the site turns Uri’s van away and the “back entrance” is used to sneak into town. It is also very curious that there is no somberness in their demeanor in spite of the fact that they are viewing the site of a global tragedy that ruined the lives of  tens of thousands - it is as if they are at Disneyland or something. They do become a bit more alarmed when they discover the van has been sabotaged and they may not be alone in this nuclear ghost town.

Chernobyl Diaries is interesting, pretty scary and has a good concept. The performances are all good enough to get the proper points across, and there are some really cool radioactive fish with huge mouths and sharp teeth. The sense of growing danger and the little hints that there may be others lurking the grounds work pretty well before the whole story comes along and slaps you in the face. All said and done everything is fine… except. There is this trend in horror, interestingly seen quite directly in the Paranormal Activity films but in others too, of not really having a hero or a quest for survival or triumph or… something. 

One of the elements that are so fun about classic horror films like Halloween orFriday the 13th is that a single individual arises as the last survivor, desperately attempting to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to defeat an evil adversary. Even films that do not have a “star power” slasher to battle like The Hills Have Eyes (or the remake in 2006, which is extremely close to Chernobyl Diaries in content) feature an individual who rises above their own failings to make a solid quest to survive. But lately there are many films that don’t seem to bother with any of that “overcoming adversity” nonsense. Chernobyl Diaries is one of them.

Ultimately we are shown a group of people that we know just a little bit about who put themselves into a sketchy situation, and then bad things happen to them. The bad things are cool, and there is certainly some attempting to survive, but where is Laurie Strode? I’d even take that tattooed guy from one of the Wrong Turn sequels (Rollins, right?) or somebody else who overcomes something to try and survive something. I don’t even care if they are successful, just that they are a cool character that is fun to root for. This film doesn’t really have that – nobody to root for, nobody particularly cool.

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I feel a bit like a frog in a pot of water. You put the frog in the room temperature water and he’s fine, happily swimming around, and if you put that pot on the stove and turn up the heat the water will start to heat up the water and the frog at the same time - legend has it that the frog will not notice the temperature change until he’s cooked. Horror movies these days have been heating up my water with films that don’t really fulfill my need for horror where something is overcome, turning up the heat with a bunch of horrible things happening to people followed by the credits rolling and nothing being resolved. Am I just noticing this for the first time? Chernobyl Diaries makes me feel like it.

All frog analogies aside, Chernobyl Diaries is a pretty cool concept with some pretty good kills, but ultimately I wasn’t too concerned about these dorky kids rummaging around in the nuclear fallout. Maybe this one should have gone VOD.