Chernobyl Diaries (2012):

Starring:

Jesse McCartney - Chris

Jonathan Sadowski - Paul

Nathan Phillips - Michael

Ingrid Bolso Berdal - Zoe

Olivia Taylor Dudley - Natalie

Devin Kelley - Amanda

Dimitri Diatchenko - Uri

Director:

Bradley Paker (First Feature Film)

Rotten Tomatoes: 22%

Flixster: 34%

Synopsis:

"Chernobyl Diaries" is set in the city of Prypiat that once housed the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, the horror-thriller follows a group of friends who, while vacationing in Europe, find themselves stranded in the abandoned city only to discover that they are not alone.

Review:

Simply said: It's the poor man's Wrong Turn 4, which is the poor man's Wrong Turn 3 which is the.... you see where this is going right? From the man who brought you the highly seen & talked about Paranormal Activity films (Oren Peli) comes this attempted film about tourists sneaking into Chernobyl to see the horrific aftermath of the worst nuclear disaster in the world's history. A lot of people, from what I heard were under the impression that this was going to be another "found footage" style film like the P.A. films. However it was not, it was actually done as a normal horror film with one exception. Even thought it wasn't done as lost footage, with a hand held or stationary camera, the filming was actually so horribly done that it felt like you were watching one. Oh they're running, so the camera is bouncing up & down, then it quickly looks to the left, then back to the front, then to the right, oh back to the front, now quickly look behind you, oh now back to the front, OH SHIT WHAT WAS THAT!?!?!?! It had the feeling of Cloverfield at points. The acting was incredibly horrible. Jesse McCartney needs to stick to making terrible music as opposed to making terrible movies. His attempt at a death scene was horrendous. It's sad when the best actor is the Ukrainian guy who's English is sub-par. From the first trailer I ever saw, I assumed that they had taken the premise of a show I LOVE called Destination Truth (a paranormal & cryptozoological investigation show, who did an episode on "The Ghosts Of Chernobyl) & made it into a movie.... I almost wish that was what they had done because what they did do was make a terrible rip off of the Wrong Turn franchise, which has it's own terrible rip offs in #3 & #4. The plot broke every single rule of horror movies & was extremely predictable. I saw it at 1:55 in the afternoon, in a completely empty movie theater & even that couldn't make me feel scared at any point throughout. The scariest parts involved a pack of wild dogs & a hilariously placed full sized brown bear that appears out of nowhere & is gone from the camera in about 4 seconds. For the lack of scares however there was one point where I almost did a spit take, laugh my ass off & then considered walking out... but only for a brief moment. When they are escaping deeper & deeper into the bowels of Chernobyl, they reach an underground storage area that has a tent in it, one of the characters thinks his injured brother is in it, so he pulls back the cover to reveal a legless, armless mutant guy that runs at them on all four stubs. Director Bradley Parker, best known for his special & visual effects, clearly doesn't grasp the concept of structure, story lines or originality. I felt like I had seen this film 20 times over the last 15-20 years. The ending was so predictable & unoriginal. Overall, it wasn't scary, was poorly acted & wasn't even entertaining. SUUUUUUUCKED!.

38%

Lead Acting: 5/15

Supporting Cast: 0/15

Plot: 4/10

Compared To The Genre: 5/10

Cinematography: 7/20

Intrigue: 12/20

                                                       Extra: 5/10