DVD Review: Chernobyl Diaries

It was only five years ago that Oren Peli began to terrify us with the first Paranormal Activity film and the scares still keep coming. Chernobyl Diaries is his first original project as writer since the aforementioned feature and reminds us he is not a one trick pony.

A group of 20-somethings decide to try some ‘extreme tourism’ and with their local tour guide, sneak into the abandoned town of Pripyat, site of the Chernobyl disaster. It is gradually revealed that the town is not as isolated as they originally believed.

The real selling point of Chernobyl Diaries is the setting – the mere title along has become synonymous with sheer unsettling chills. Director, Brad Parker captures this through use of Serbian and Hungarian locations which look eerily like Pripyat and Chernobyl – giving the film a bleak realness. Crumbling buildings, decaying ferris wheels and looming nuclear reactors are just some of the details that Chernobyl Diaries includes to capture the image of the abandoned town.

Peli’s script unfolds with a slow unease, with the tourists slowly being shown signs that things are not right within the town. From mutated fish and freshly lit embers to glimpses of figures in doorways – these small signifiers help build up some understated chills and atmosphere, in a similar manor to gradual disturbances in Paranormal Activity. Fortunately, it is quite refreshing that Chernobyl Diaries opts not to dwell on the handheld camera style which has become rather tired and played out in recent years.