Chernobyl Diaries

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Year:	2012
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Bradley Parker
Genre:	Apocalypse not
Starring:	Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Dimitri Diatchenko, Olivia Dudley,Devin Kelley, Jesse McCartney, Nathan Phillips, Jonathan Sadowski
Rating:	3/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1991245/
Tagline:	No tagline
Favourite line:	"Have you heard of extreme tourism?"

Heh, it’s in bad taste, but isn’t that the point of horror?

The plot:
Four American sorts, the men square of jaw and white of tooth, the women large of breast and perfect of cheek bone, are on a tour of Europe. Rocking up in Ukraine, they decide to embark on a spot of Extreme Tourism, hooking up with a local tour guide named Uri, who offers to take them to Prypiat, the deserted town right next to Chernobyl.
Entering by cover of daylight (sic), they explore for a while, engrossed – understandably – by the spookiness of the abandoned dwellings, where families had to leave so swiftly, all possessions were left behind.
With night approaching, they head back to the van, only to discover that the wiring has been ripped out by persons unknown.
Seems Prypiat is not as deserted as they might have hoped……

Yep, it’s your standard ‘stupid people doing stupid things stupidly’ premise, which is fine.
Produced and written by Orin Peli, the man behind low budget sensation Paranormal Activity, you kind of know what you are going to get walking into this, and it pretty much delivers.
Oh, and if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the whole damned thing.
Main star of the film, it must be said, is the location. It’s stunning. Though not actually shot in Prypiat – of course it’s not, though it had me convinced – this is as evocative as it gets. Deserted, derelict constructs of concrete and steel, brooding against a grey and oppressive sky, it is the stuff of nightmares, and no mistake. Even when they head inside, it sure looked like an abandoned reactor to us down here at Smell the Cult HQ.
That aside, there’s nothing here to truly surprise, or even remark upon.
Nuts and bolts, low budget horror, with more than a whiff of the ‘found footage’ about it – it’s not, but it certainly has that feel and, truth be told, that genre has now pretty much run its course.
A frustration must be aired, though, and it’s a bit of a spoiler, so look away now if easily annoyed. You don’t get to see the gribblies. You get quick glimpses, in darkness, in shadow, but at no point do you actually get to see what the monsters look like. Kind of pissed me off.
Oh, and as for the bad taste factor. Apparently there has been a slight stir of criticism from Chernobyl Support Groups and the like but, really, it was nearly thirty years ago. Enough time has passed, surely? And, if in doubt, stay away. It’s not like they haven’t been warned. It’s got the word Chernobyl in the title, for Christ’s sake.
Decent enough, this, while it lasted, but you won’t feel any urge to revisit it in the future, I suspect.
Average, then.