Sampling: Chernobyl Diaries

Oddly, it was an all food, no film, Memorial Weekend. Must do a triple feature screening day of MIB3, Dark Shadows and Snow White and the Huntsman very soon!

However, last Thursday I did see Chernobyl Diaries, courtesy of Philadelphia Film Society member preview screenings.

Did you know this movie is written by the same writer/director of the Paranormal Activity series? 

When Oren Peli directed the breakout horror hit Paranormal Activity in 2007, he had virtually no filmmaking experience, having come from a software programming background. Since then, however, the Israeli-born Peli has quickly become a horror-movie machine, producing (and occasionally writing) the Paranormal Activity sequels, the James Wan chiller Insidious, and now, Chernobyl Diaries - Vulture.com (Chernobyl Diaries is directed by Bradley Parker (Let Me In) 

The setting of this latest fear flick is already a horror story of historic proportions, taking place in the abandoned town of Prypiat where the 1986 Ukrainian Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster happened.

As of 2008 The Chernobyl Forum estimates that the eventual death toll could reach 4,000 among those exposed to the highest levels of radiation (200,000 emergency workers, 116,000 evacuees and 270,000 residents of the most contaminated areas); this figure includes some 50 emergency workers who died of acute radiation syndrome, nine children who died of thyroid cancer and an estimated total of 3940 deaths from radiation-induced cancer and leukemia. - Wikipedia 

That in and of itself is the epitome of horror, without adding any supernatural elements or radioactive mutants.

Although I also agree with this blogger: 

...the setting/situation doesn’t lend itself to the “this could happen to me!” feeling that the Paranormal films excel at. I might someday find myself besieged by a ghost in my own home, but I’m pretty sure I’ll never be on the run from mutants in a radiated city (mostly because I’m lazy) - Horror Movie A Day  

Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Dimitri Diatchenko,Olivia Dudley, Devin Kelley, Jesse McCartney, Nathan Phillips, Jonathan Sadowski

 Is it a found footage type film like Paranormal Activity?  No. Here's why - 

We actually did think of making it a found-footage film, but the more we worked on the story, it just felt like it wouldn’t make sense, that it would feel forced and inorganic. But we decided that, even though it isn’t going to be found footage, we wanted it to feel authentic. So we decided we were going to shoot it not like a horror movie, but a documentary where horrific things happen to people. We made sure our actors were very natural, that a lot of the dialogue was improvised, that the camerawork was done in a very natural way, so we don’t have shots that feel like they’re from a crane or anything like that. - Vulture.com interview with Oren Peli 

Do I recommend Chernobyl Diaries?  I'm not a good judge of horror movies; I scare too easily.  But I do agree with this blogger: 

There is a palpable sense of loss and isolation hanging over the proceedings... I was leaning forward in my seat, fully invested for its brief duration...A standard horror film it may be, but it plows ahead with grim determination and should be applauded for playing it straight with such a potent premise... - Shloggs Horror Blog