Horror Movie Review: Chernobyl Diaries

Title: Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

Synopsis: Six tourists hire an extreme tour guide who takes them to the abandoned city Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. During their exploration, they soon discover they are not alone.

Director: Brad Parker

As you well know, I really enjoy the “going into the woods and getting in trouble” type of horror film, so Chernobyl Diaries was right up my alley. Six travelers decide to take a “extreme tourism” tour to the radioactive ruins of Chernobyl.

I remember the reporting of the actual event in 1986, which scared the crap out of me, having been brought up with movies like The Day After and incidents like Three Mile Island. It seemed as if nuclear power was just waiting to get out, give us cancer and make us lose our hair. I was so frightened that the fallout would travel across the ocean and get us all.

Anyway, the movie was exactly as I expected. The opening scenes, over music, were there to introduce us to the rather interchangeable group of tourists, smiling happily with cups of coffee and posing in front of monuments. Just your average, everyday traveling Americans, right? Playing it safe, not taking too many chances besides having too much to drink.