Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

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nTitle: ChernobylnDiaries (2012)

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nDirector: Bradley Parker

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nCast: Jonathan Sadowski, Nathan Phillips, Jesse McCartney, DevinnKelley, Olivia Dudley, Dimitri Diatchenko, Ingrid Bolso Berdal

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nReview:

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nChernobyl Diaries comes to us from producer Oren Peli, thenguy who burst into the cinematic scene with Paranormal Activity (2007), one ofnthe most profitable independent films ever. It stands proudly next to similarlynproduced films like Halloween (1978) and The Blair Witch Project (1999), younknow, films made with very little money, but that made huge amounts of cash atnthe box office. It seems to me that Oren Peli is now Hollywood’s go to guy for producingnfilms of this nature, and of course Hollywood is loving every second of it. Itnmeans they don’t have to spend obscene amounts of money producing a film andnthey still fill up their bank accounts. Case in point, Chernobyl Diaries, thenlatest of these ‘cheaply’ produced films only cost 1 million dollars to make, that’s pocket change when it comes to hollywood, but hear this, thenfilm has already gone on to make more than 18 million dollars at the box office! Talk about a win-winnsituation! But production stories aside, was the film worth a damn?

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nStory is all about these American tourists who in search ofnkicks during their visit to Ukraine, agree to go on an ‘extreme tour’ whichnmeans they’ll pay an ex-military dude to take them deep into the city of Pripyat,nthe city where the families who worked at the Chernobyl Power plant used tonlive in.  After the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant disaster; the whole city became one big deserted place. Thenfamilies who lived there were all forced to abandon the city in less then 24nhours! The buildings they used to live in stand their, like giant silentnwitnesses to these horrible events that occurred some 25 years ago. Still, the fournAmericans think going into this ghost town will be a spooky adventure. Nevernmind that radiation levels are still present and could potentially kill them,ntheir logic is they will be in and out of this place before the radiation cannharm them. Still, this being a horror film, well, the question inevitablynarises: will they ever return?
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nChernobyl Diaries attempts to be an exercise in suspense, but does it succeed? Well, the film is all about things moving in the shadows, villainsnwe can never quite place, but know are there, people running from deadly not yet seen..things. Yup, Oren Peli is up to hisnold tricks again. He enjoys scaring his audience without really showing themnanything. This film is similar in that way to Peli’s own Paranormal Activity, anfilm that can also creep you out, simply because it messes with your mind. Thenvillains in Chernobyl Diaries are kept in a shroud of mystery; obviously Peli knows ournminds will fill the blanks with something maybe even more awful. Maybe this isna way to save some money, but I guess their logic is that our imaginations willnput in the special effects. Cheap, yeah, but you have to admit, it’s an effectiventechnique that when it works, it works. Your mind does fill in the blanks with something perhapsneven more sinister then what they could actually end up showing you. And thoughnPeli didn’t personally direct this film, you could feel that Chernobyl Diariesnis structured and produced in an Oren Peli sort of way. There’s lots ofnmystery, lots of suspense, lot’s of unanswered questions. This film keeps you guessing to the very end, whichnof course I enjoyed.
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nThis is director Bradley Parker’s first film, he’s worked onnfilms before but on the visual effects department and computer animation whichnusually spells disaster for a film in my book. Virus (1999)  and Spawn (1997) are examples of two films directed by visual effects artists who had the opportunity to make  full length feature films. As you can see, the results are usually either empty fx spectacles or simply mediocre films. Sometimes handing a movie to an effects whiz isnt always great because they tend to focus on effects alone and forget about telling a good story.  Sometimes their films don’t work,  and sometimes it’s magic, like in the case of James Cameron, who started his career doing effects work on Roger Corman movies and has ended up directing some of the biggest blockbusters ever conceived. So you see, there arenexceptions and I’d say that Bradley Parker is one of them. Considering hisnbackground in computer effects, I’m amazed he turned in a film whose focuse isn’tnin wowing us with them. This films main attempt is to scare us and keep us innsuspense and I think in that sense it worked. Visually speaking, thanks to Parker’s experience with effects  work , this film looks great. In the film, Parker mixes a bit of that shaky cam technique, but at the same time, has some  good looking still shots, so I’d say he did a great balancing act there. Nothing worse than an overdose of shaky cam.  Interesting how Parker’s first film has sparked some controversy, some groups consider the film offensive because it portrays kids going onnvacation to Chernobyl,nwhere so many human lives where lost. They also criticize the films tag line “ExperiencenThe Fall Out” because they say its “making fun” of the horrors of real nuclearnfall out. I say baloney, in any case, the film actually shows us what real fall out canndo to you. And as for the disrespectful angle, these kids go in there, not tonbe disrespectful, in fact, their attitude is mournful. They stand in awe ofnthis place. If you ask me, the ‘controversy’ behind this is stupid, but on thenother hand, it should work in the films favor at the box office.
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nWhat works so well for this movie is the unique locations innwhich they shot the film. We get isolated abandoned buildings, old factories, anghost city with shadows creeping in its backgrounds. The whole story behind thenChernobyl disaster makes everything all the more sinister, the idea that thesenkids are venturing deeper and deeper into this ghost town, that’s so close tonan abandoned nuclear reactor is very eerie, the visuals are extremelynatmospheric and I enjoyed that about it. My problem with the film was thatnsomewhere around its middle part it turns into the kids running away from somethingnthey can’t see, and it turns into that kind of a movie where they never shownyou what it is that’s chasing these kids, which is probably a way of trying tonaugment the suspense. It might unnerve some, and piss off others who want tonsee their creatures. It worked well in my book because usually, these types ofnfilms have a good pay off in the end and in my book, Chernobyl Diaries doesnhave a good ending. Ultimately, Chernobyl Diaries has suspenseful moments, lot’snof jump scares and an extremely eerie location and premise. It might not offernup a lot in the originality department because it simply deludes into a monsternmovie, but if you ask me, even though the film doesn’t break any new ground in horror,nit entertained me. It’s a horror film with an interesting setting and an eerienpremise, what’s not to like?

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nRating: 3 ½ out of 5  
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