Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

On the cover of the DVD is says ‘From the creator of Paranormal Activity’. This means that Oren Peli did the screenplay and also produced it but to say that it was a Peli film would be a slight bending of the truth.

The movie starts with Supergrass and the song ‘Alright’ which must be a gag because of what will happen.

I question the decision to set this in Chernobyl where in 1986 the city suffered a nuclear accident which has called over three decades of problems for the people affected. On a less serious note I question about putting the words diaries into the title because there are things shot on cameras but they are not entries.

Apparently there is a thing that has extreme tourism. The extreme tourist is called Uri and immediately I dislike him but not as much as I hate Paul who acts like he is very pleased with himself. Chris (Jesse McCartney), Natalie (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and Amanda (Devin Kelley) are perfectly fine because they take Paul’s manner in the negative way that they are suppose to. Paul has some annoying company when two backpackers join them in the form of Michael and Zoe. After being denied entry by some guards Uri comes up with another way to get in and this instantly makes you feel that everything that happens to all of them is of their own making.

There is a sombre moment when they are entering because it reminds you of the terrible disaster and why it seems even more in poor taste to base a horror movie here. They could have come up with a made up town and you would think that it’s a made up version.

The first proper scare was quite a good one. It happens in the flats when they hear a noise and I wasn’t expecting a bear coming out of nowhere.  It’s at this point that the inevitable thing happens where they means of leaving the area is broken and they start to question whether they are alone. There are some scares but the problem is that the film feels rather ordinary and it’s a shame because there is potential here but its wasted.

The film picks up once Natalie gets taken. Then people start appearing out of nowhere and it starts to get a bit tense but its taken so long to get to this point that I feel like its lost my attention. You can tell it’s a Oren Peli film because you have to spend so much time in the company of these people before anything remotely happens and when it does its followed by more nothing.

What starts off as a movie that might have supernatural themes just becomes a generic jumps and nothing movie. It

Someone used the term Cattle Prod Horror to describe Insidious Chapter 2 and this definelty falls into this category. It’s slightly better than I thought it would be but compared to the first Paranormal Activity film it’s a bit ordinary. It even has a sort of shock ending that the Paranormal films have and whilst it was quite good it felt like they have ben ticking off a checklist from the very beginning. The lack of any diaries is a mystery and also its not scary which is a disappointment.