Coursework Five: Chernobyl Diaries Review

It has become a recent trend in the filming industry that a lot of horror films are set in the mysterious setting of Eastern Europe. 'Chernobyl Diaries' can raise high expectations among horror film lovers, taking into consideration Oren Peli was the originator and screenwriter of the film, who is well known for his other horror film 'Paranormal Activity' (2007).

Unfortunately his fans may be very get disappointed after seeing his recent release, as  it is very predictable and simplistic. The reason may be that inexperienced Bradley Parker was directing this film. Main characters may overwhelm with their irrationality, because they make exactly the same mistakes that we would expect to see in similar low-budget horror film.

However  no other filmmakers came up with the idea to locate a film of this nature in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Abandoned Pripyat was an excellent choice. It was a city created for employees of the infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Plant who had worked there before the 1986 disaster. Certainly this film fulfils its main purpose- it is scary and cliffhanging!

In the foreground (on the right): Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko), background (from the left): Natalie (Olivia Dudley), Zoe (Ingrid, Bolso Berdal), Chris (Jesse McCartney), Michael (Nathan Philips),Paul (Jonathan Sadowski) and Amanda (Devin Kelly)

'Chernobyl Diaries' tells us a story of a group of young American tourists- Natalie (Olivia Dudley), Amanda (Devin Kelly) and Chris (Jesse McCartney) who decide to come to Europe to visit major tourist destinations, such as London and Paris. On their way to Moscow, they choose to stay for a few days in Kiev (Ukraine) to hang around with Chris's brother, Paul (Jonathan Sadowski). While all of them are having a dinner, Paul suggests a little bit of 'extreme tourism' in Prypiat, the depopulated and infected Ghost Town, not far from Kiev. Typical of a film in this genre, it does not take too long for him to convince the rest of the group that this is a great idea.

Consequently Paul recommends that the group  hire his friend, Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko), who is a local tour guide, and two Australian tourists,  Zoe (Ingrid, Bolso Berdal) and Michael (Nathan Philips) decide to join them. Once they arrive to Pripyat, they enjoy being alone in the dead city, while having a few adventures with the wild nature. Nevertheless once they finish sightseeing, they realise that someone has damaged their car engine and they cannot head back to Kiev. That gives them an impression that they are not alone in Pripyat and that someone with a sinister agenda is present also.

The first thing to note in this film is the stupidity and simplicity of the main characters. They do exactly what we expect them to do. It will be difficult viewing experience for the impatient audience, because some of the characters seem to be one dimensional. They are very repetitious, as they ask twice "What happened in Chernobyl?" and use classical statements that are overused in films like these, such as,  "Someone has to know we are out there". Instead of heading back to the zone border, they hang around Pripyat, which could have managed.

In case of 'radioactive native inhabitants'  we can see some similarities to films, such as: 'The Hills Have Eyes' (2006) and 'The House of Wax' (2005). For some people this idea of transforming victims of Chernobyl into ruthless monsters is offensive, however it is not the first film, which relates to the other tragedies, such as: 'Dead Snow' (2009), the film with Nazi zombies, which relates to the holocaust.

There are very few special effects in the film. One of them is a wild bear running through one of the flats and infected fish in the lake. Unfortunately we don't see any monsters throughout the film, because once they got attacked the camera was shaking so the audience see nothing. Although  that may be intentional so that people find it scary and evocative, the director fails to succeed.

It may seem to be a found footage film, because in a number of scenes  it looks like the film is recorded by hand. However it is just a short number, so there are maybe only three minutes or so. The use of camera is not similar to the one in  'Rec' (2007) or 'The Orphange' (2007) and hand-recording does not mean it is next quasi-film. The film simply just uses a number of wide shots and no classic way of cameraman recording. Empty and destroyed flats and  amusement give a flavour of the real Pripyat and Ukraine (which in reality the film was recorded in Serbia and Hungary). While the main characters are running away from 'the monsters' through the long tunnels, while caring a flash light, you may get a feeling of 'Silent Hill' or 'Resident Evil.'

Amanda (Devin Kelly) and Paul (Jonathan Sadowski)

The film gives a feeling of anxiety, because it uses constantly dark scenes, although we cannot see enough, monsters are all the time shaded and we barely see anything moving.

Zoe (Ingrid, Bolso Berdal)

Music was not a big part of the film, unless 'screaming' can be counted as a part of it.  However a good decision was to put Marilyn Manson song at the end credits.

'Chernobyl Diaries' was realised on 24th of May 2012 and now is available on DVDs and BluRay. The film misses uniqueness- from the beginning till the end of the film we know what is going to happen. However if you want to watch a tacky classic horror film, which is more amusing than actually scary, then this film is perfect for you.

References:



IMDB: Berdal Bolso Ingrid [online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

IMDB: Diatchenko Dimitri [online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

IMDB: Dudley Olivia [online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

IMDB: Kelly Devin [online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

IMDB: McCartney Jesse [online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

IMDB: Parker Bradley [online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

IMDB: Peli Oren[online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

IMDB: Philips Nathan [online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

IMDB: Sadowski Jonathan [online].[Accessed 9th April 2013].

MOVIEFONE, 2012. 'Chernobyl Diaries' Controversy: Charity Slams Found-Footage Film For Being Insensitive. Available from: http://aol.it/JL6FZY [Accessed 9th April 2013].

SNETIKER, M., 2012. 'Chernobyl Diaries' producers on why it's not 'Paranormal Activity. Inside Movies. Available from: http://bit.ly/JsELjc [Accessed 9th April 2013].

O'LEARY, J., 2012. A Glimpse at the 'Chernobyl Diaries.' The Daily Campus. Available from: http://bit.ly/ZdX5nu [Accessed 9th April 2013].


Videos:

Chernobyl Diaries, 2012: Bear Scene [online]. [Accessed 9th April 2013].

Chernobyl Diaries, 2012: Infected Fish [online]. [Accessed 9th April 2013].

Chernobyl Diaries, 2012: "Someone must know we are out there" [online]. [Accessed 9th April 2013].

Chernobyl Diaries, 2012: Trailer [online]. [Accessed 9th April 2013].