May 26, 2012

"Chernobyl Diaries" - 2012 - movie review

"Chernobyl Diaries" is a low budget horror movie set in the infamous Ukrainian ghost town of Pripyat where 50,000 people (workers from the doomed nuclear power plant of the film's title and their families) lived and which was completely abandoned with only a few hours notice by the Soviets in the wake of the disaster.

Our story begins with two couples on a tour of Eastern Europe. One of their group proposes that, instead of going on to their next destination (Moscow) they instead take an "extreme tour" of Chernobyl and says he knows a reliable local guide named Uri who's willing to take them. Reluctantly the others agree and at Uri's office they also pick up a British couple. Everyone piles into Uri's Soviet-era van and they head off toward the disaster site.

At first they are denied entry into the exclusion zone around Pripyat/Chernobyl by the Ukrainian army who cite "maintenance" issues. Undeterred Uri takes his group through a long abandoned entrance assuring one and all that everything will be fine. Once inside the exclusion zone he stops at a river on the outskirts of town where ominous long-toothed fish hold sway. From here they make their way to into Pripyat itself where they spend time taking photos and wondering at the abandonment of it all.

After encountering a huge, angry bear in one of Pripyat's numerous empty buildings they beat a hasty retreat but the fun is just beginning. They load back into the van only to find that someone or something has sabotaged the engine wiring. Uri's radio call for help yields no response and the group are forced to spend the night during which time Uri disappears, one of the men is attacked and seriously injured by something or someone after going out to find Uri and the van is besieged by some kind of wild animal. They survive the night but Uri does not return.

Chernobyl Diaries obeys the first law of horror movies which is to make sure your characters make the dumbest possible decision in each and every instance. But the novelty of the setting which comes with it's own large suitcase full of cultural baggage works to minimize the predictability level and even imbue the proceedings with (Dare I say it?) an air of freshness.

That said there are still moments during the film where you've just got to shake your head. Like during the final act when the wounded and desperate survivors are attempting to escape yet decide to go into the darkest, most labyrinthine building available, head down into the local dungeon and follow the sound of mad dogs and who knows what else chowing on human flesh, all the while repeating "we gotta get outa here!" Indeed.

Horror movies only work if the writer and director are able to put the audience into the heart of darkness. Recently Hollywood has taken this as an excuse to justify the found footage genre. To it's credit Chernobyl Diaries proves you don't have to stoop to that overused and boring device to create tension and a sense of dread. You also don't have to stoop to using undead or crazy dudes in sports masks as the evil foils. That role is filled just fine here by a combination of bears, ravenous dogs, carnivorous fish and radiation; along with something else that goes largely undefined until very late in the proceedings.

Chernobyl Diaries is not a great film. It's not even a really good film. But its an okay film with some pretty scary moments that does a decent job of presenting a well-used theme in a new and interesting way without pretending to be important. I went into Chernobyl Diaries not expecting much. After just seeing "Men In Black III" I was prepared for another letdown. But to my surprise this low budget outing managed to get and keep my attention and provided what was definitely the more enjoyable movie experience.

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