Chernobyl Diaries (2012)
Certified: 16
Duration: 86 minutes
Directed by: Bradley Parker
Starring: Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski, Devin Kelley, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Nathan Phillips, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Dimitri Diatchenko
KRS release

Screenwriter, director and producer Oran Peli has a knack for making low-budget films and giving them the box-office golden touch.

His Paranormal Activity franchise and Insidious (2010) are such examples. Peli produces and provides the script to Chernobyl Diaries, which follows a group of youths on a trip around Europe.

They include brothers Paul and Chris (Jonathan Sadowski and Jesse McCartney), Natalie (Olivia Taylor Dudley), who is Chris’ girlfriend, and her best friend Amanda (Devin Killey).

The holiday runs smoothly until Paul convinces the group to go off the beaten track and visit Prypiat – the abandoned city that used to house the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant back in the 1980s.

They meet up with an extreme tour guide named Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko) and another couple, Michael and Zoe (Nathan Philips and Ingrid Bolso Berdal), who join the tour.

The group’s aim is to get in and out of the ghost city before getting exposed to radiation that is still registered in the area.

Problems start when their van stops and there is no radio communication. When night falls, they realise that maybe the ghost city is not so uninhabited after all.

The director originally started out in videogame design and this is reflected in the film’s drive and energy.

The premise of American youths vacationing in Europe is familiar but the setting of Chernobyl is certainly not.

The fact that this area had been evacuated, cordoned off and no one is supposed to enter it – even though today squatters seem to have found their way in – adds a reality factor to the picture.

The film was not actually shot in Chernobyl but Hungary. I do not think any production crew would be willing to shoot in such a hot zone.

However, BBC managed to shoot a documentary on location and the short film The Door (2010), which was nominated for an Oscar, was shot in Prypiat.

One of the strongest factors at play in this film is surely the environment. There is a sort of haunting third presence looming over the protagonists’ heads.

The deft direction maximises the “boo” scream bits which range from the appearance of mysterious figures to terrifying dogs and more.

We get to share every hurdle the young cast goes through as the hand-held camera places us into the thick of things.

From the start we know that going into this area is a bad idea and the characters seem to know that too.

Killey as Amanda plays the B-movie girl in danger to the hilt while Diatchenko as the guide stands out from the cast.

Throughout the film, the audience is given sparse titbits of knowledge which adds to its mystery flavour.