Movie Reviews

The Chernobyl Diaries

Movie 17: The Chernobyl Diaries (2012) ‘Experience the fallout’

Cast:

Chris- Jesse McCartney

Paul- Jonathan Sadowski

Natalie- Olivia Taylor Dudley

Amanda- Devin Kelley

Zoe- Ingrid Bolso Berdal

Uri- Dimitri Diatchenko

Zoe’s fiancé- Nathan Philips

Movie Information:

Rating- R (restricted) for gore, violence, and some language.

Running time: approximately 87 minutes

My Rating: 5 stars

Movie Summary:

‘Ten years ago, the Ukrainian government let tourists visit the area around Chernobyl. They said it was safe…it wasn’t.’

            A group of friends are travelling across Europe, Chris, his girlfriend Natalie, and her best friend Amanda. They visit Chris’s brother Paul, and Chris tells Paul of his plans to propose to Natalie in Moscow.

            After a night of partying the group has breakfast together, there Paul tells the others of this man he met, Uri, an extreme tourist guide. Uri has told Paul that he can take them for a day to Chernobyl. Chris does not want to go, not wanting to delay the proposal but the two girls are eager to go.

            They head over to Uri’s shop and meet Zoe and her fiancé who will also be going on the trip. They take Uri’s van and drive two hours to Chernobyl. There the Ukrainian soldiers stop Uri saying they are doing maintenance and will not allow him to go in. Uri says this has never happened before, and so he takes them to an abandoned check point where they sneak in.

            The group walk around Chernobyl taking pictures at the abandoned town. When in a apartment room, they here noises and a large grizzly bear runs across the hallway, almost as if it was running away from something. Uri says he has never seen one there before. Away from the others Uri finds a burnt pile of ashes and is suddenly scared. He shows them the power plants and say they are extremely radioactive. They all leave, and Uri still is scared and hurries them to the van. Unfortunately the van’s wires have been ruined. Uri tries to use his walki talkie but there is no response. They are forced to spend the night.

            Noises are heard from outside and Uri takes his gun outside, Chris goes with him, guns go off, and Paul takes off outside. The two brothers return, Chris’ leg badly bitten, he is unable to walk. Suddenly crazed dogs jump in the car, they leave after. The group is forced to spend the night. The next morning Amanda, Paul and Zoe’s fiancé head out looking for Uri. They find his body, his gun which they take, and see a human like figure eating Uri’s remains. They run out shooting at the thing. They get back to the car, Zoe and her fiancé want to leave, but Chris cant walk. They decide to go looking for help, leaving only Chris and Natalie in the van. They walk for a bit but a bunch of crazy dogs are eating something, they go around through the forest where they find a parking lot full of cars. They find the parts they need as well as an old hideout from a Ukrainian guard, they find his blood and scraps of clothes. They are then surrounded by dogs, they outrun them to a lake where they cross, Zoe’s fiancé falls in and is bitten by fish, he is still able to walk.

            They arrive back to the van at nightfall, however the van is missing, there is drag marks and they follow them to a stripped van, with no Chris or Natalie. They here some noises and head into a school building where they find a human mutant, and Natalie. They run out with Natalie and try to find a way out, when they see a creepy little girl just standing there. They try to talk to her, meanwhile a creepy shadowy figure takes and kill Natalie. The group tries to go after her but ends up wandering deep into the power plant with high radiation. They keep running further in with the crazy mutants chasing them. They got through a heavy duty door, and lock it. There they find an old make shift clinic from the Ukrainian government. The mutants are still after them, so they keep running, when closing another door Zoe’s fiancé is trapped and killed.

            The last three end up in the mutants home. Paul finds the ring Chris was going to give to Natalie, and calls out for him. He instead gets another mutant hidden in a tent. Natalie and Paul head up a latter, out of the mutants home, but Zoe is caught and eaten. The last two make it up to the top of the power plant. The radiation is so bad, there skin begins to burn and they loose their eye site. The two finally make it outside where the Ukrainian government is waiting for them. Paul gets to close to them and they shoot him. They take Natalie into a their facility, where they ask her some questions. They tell her they are wheeling her to a doctor. They are really not going to let her live saying in Ukrainian, that she has seen their ‘patients’ that have escaped. They take her off the stretcher and lock her in a dark metal cell. The mutants then attack and kill her. THE END!!!!

My Review:

            This movie actually creeped me out!! This movie was awesome!!!! I loved the effects, the story line, the creepiness of it and the overall movie. It was crazy good. The suspense of them being in Chernobyl was crazy! Every time they turned a street or walked up or down a flight of stairs I was freaking out with what they were to find. All the little parts really added up. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited while watching a movie before.

            The scenes were actually quite freaky when they had that little kid just standing there and the pop up guy in the school. Scary!! Also the settings were all really great. I know the outside parts were filmed in the real place, but even then the indoor scenes looked super creepy and realistic.

            Also the actual history of Chernobyl is very interesting. I didn’t know anything about it until a friend told me about before watching the movie he got. The history was really neat, and the way they twisted it with the mutated people, who were cannibals were super awesome!!!