The Chernobyl DiariesRated R1 Hour 26 Minutes
My GradeC
The Chernobyl Diaries offers nothing new in the realm of horror. I mean, it's the same generic, formulaic stuff we see time and time again in these movies. A group of friends explore an abandoned area, in this case, a real location where an actual tragedy took place in real life. Something bad happens and they get stuck there and then all hell breaks loose. You know exactly where the story will take you, you know who is going to die, you know it all. The characters are all fairly cliched. It sounds like I really hate this movie doesn't it?
Truth is, I didn't hate it. Yes, it is all of those things above. But I like what it attempted to do with the premise. I like that it took us to where the Chernobyl nuclear disaster took place because it offers us a different kind of setting. It added a certain level of "realism" to the tale, and yes, I use that word lightly. The first two thirds of this movie does a pretty solid job at hiding the "monsters" from the audience and honestly it makes it a bit creepier than most spoof fests that have been thrown our way the past few years. When they finally show us the creatures and the reason for their deformities, I can't help but relate this to "Wrong Turn" and "The Hills Have Eyes". Very similar concepts. At any rate, before all that, the movie is foreboding and eerie and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little tense during some scenes. They didn't bombard us with loud music and I love when horror movies go quiet and use only ambient noise. It's scary.
The rest of the movie is pretty generic though, as I stated earlier. There is nothing wrong with any of the performances, none of them are cheesy or awful. They all do an equally normal job at showing us their acting skills. The jump scenes are there, and most of them are quite predictable. Lack of any valid explanations is also prominent in this film, especially in the end. I'm the type though, who doesn't need to be spoonfed answers, especially in a silly horror movie like this. However, it does give us glimpses into what's going on, but not until the last 4 or 5 minutes, and it basically sets up a potential sequel...even though I'm sure we won't get one.
So all in all, The Chernobyl Diaries suffers a bad case of the "same old, same old". While it plays out on a better than average pace it still does kind of fall flat. I certainly appreciate the location and the premise, but I just found it to be incredibly average. Horror movie junkies will probably get a kick out of it on a one time viewing though. It's entertaining enough.
The rest of the movie is pretty generic though, as I stated earlier. There is nothing wrong with any of the performances, none of them are cheesy or awful. They all do an equally normal job at showing us their acting skills. The jump scenes are there, and most of them are quite predictable. Lack of any valid explanations is also prominent in this film, especially in the end. I'm the type though, who doesn't need to be spoonfed answers, especially in a silly horror movie like this. However, it does give us glimpses into what's going on, but not until the last 4 or 5 minutes, and it basically sets up a potential sequel...even though I'm sure we won't get one.
So all in all, The Chernobyl Diaries suffers a bad case of the "same old, same old". While it plays out on a better than average pace it still does kind of fall flat. I certainly appreciate the location and the premise, but I just found it to be incredibly average. Horror movie junkies will probably get a kick out of it on a one time viewing though. It's entertaining enough.
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