Synopsis: Six tourists hire an extreme tour guide who takes them to the abandoned city Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. During their exploration, they soon discover they are not alone.
My Quick Review: For some reason I had it in my mind that chernobyl diaries was a found footage movie. I had seen it in some found footage list, and the trailer, as i recalled, looked to be this way as well.
Apart from some scenes, Chernobyl Diaries is shot in a traditional way, albeit using a lot of tricks and jump scares found usually in found footage movies.
But I believe Chernobyl diaries is actually a better movie this way. The first half of the movie creates the right amount of tension and characters exposition to get us ready for what is to come.
Unfortunately, once the nature of the “monsters” who are after our group of tourists is revealed, Chernobyl Diaries starts to accumulate genre cliches at an alarming rate. What was a fine chiller during the first 45mn or so, become a generic “run for your life” movie that never really lives up to its potential.
Despite its problems, I would still recommend Chernobyl Diaries as I did enjoy the ride and never looked at my watch once which is already more than I can say about most of the movies I review.
My Rating: 6/10
Director: Bradley Parker
Origin: US
