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The idea of a horror film set in the radiation zone surrounding the Chernobyl reactor is bursting with potential, so it's a shame that Chernobyl Diaries is such a dismal failure. Rather than a competent bone-chiller, the film steals wholesale from Wes Craven's 1977 shocker The Hills Have Eyes and at least a dozen other horror pictures. The film was masterminded by Paranormal Activity creator Oren Peli, who co-wrote the screenplay with Shane Van Dyke and Carey Van Dyke. For those unaware, Shane wrote, directed and starred in The Asylum's Titanic II, and Carey is another Asylum regular. It's hardly surprising, then, that the picture is so vehemently C-grade, dull and uneventful.
While holidaying around Europe, Chris (Jesse McCartney), his long-time girlfriend Natalie (Olivia Taylor Dudley), and their recently-dumped best friend Amanda (Devin Kelly) visit Chris' older brother Paul (Jonathan Sadowski) in Kyiv. Wanting Chris and his buddies to have a good time, Paul organises for them to embark on an "extreme tour" hosted by Russian hulk Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko) to the ghost town of Prypiat, which was abandoned back in 1986 following the catastrophic Chernobyl disaster. Joined by Norwegian Zoe (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and her Australian boyfriend Michael (Nathan Phillips), the group soon becomes stranded in the desolate area when their ride breaks down. It isn't long before night falls, and circumstances rapidly spiral downwards as the tourists find themselves up against cannibalistic mutants as well as the vicious local wildlife.
At the very least, Chernobyl Diaries is not yet another "found footage" flick. It opens in the found footage style but soon shifts into conventional writing and directing, which is a godsend. But this is one of the only things the film does right. The pedestrian script calls upon countless clichés and doesn't bother to do something interesting with them. For instance, we learn early in the movie that Chris plans to propose to Natalie. Additionally, as soon as Michael and Zoe show up and ask to join the tour, we immediately realise they exist just to be killed. Couldn't the script be just a tiny bit more subtle? Perhaps most distressingly, the film cheats several times in a lazy attempt to amplify the scares. For instance, a good six or seven hours of daylight suddenly vanishes on the group's second day, a period long enough for the protagonists to hike 20km to the closest checkpoint to get help or do any number of things to help their cause before night falls. It's jarring, creating a threat without earning it and demonstrating little regard for viewer intelligence. And why is it that Paul speaks fluent Ukrainian throughout the film but pleads for his life in English when faced with Ukrainian soldiers?
The ghost town of Prypiat is an ideal setting for a horror film, and the depiction is impressively spot-on. As the protagonists walk around, looking at ancient buildings and playgrounds, director Bradley Parker generates a creepy atmosphere, but it's all for naught. The idea that radioactive mutants inhabit the town is so head-smackingly obvious and boring, squandering the potential for a genuinely unsettling horror story. Admittedly, the concept initially shows promise, with unseen foes and aggressive wildlife generating some degree of intensity. Parker fails to sustain this, however, instead leaning on tired horror tropes. As a result, the film has very little replay value. Chernobyl Diaries is not necessarily awful, but its lack of innovation renders it much too drab. You won't feel compelled to watch this one again anytime soon or ever again.
To be fair, Chernobyl Diaries has a few isolated set pieces that effectively evoke a sense of dread, and the Prypiat setting is always insanely creepy in daylight. If horror fanatics simply want to watch a new backdrop for a clichéd mutant-killer film, then they might find that it delivers the goods if they squint hard enough. Overall, though, the film is a missed opportunity, a leaden exercise in stock characters, clichés and lacklustre scares.
4.0/10
