Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	84:26
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Bradley Parker
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ingrid Bolsø Berdal Dimitri Diatchenko Olivia Dudley Devin Kelley Jesse McCartney Nathan Phillips
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Diego Stocco

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Chris (Jesse McCartney), his girlfriend Natalie (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and their friend Amanda (Devin Kelley) are on a European vacation and visit Chris’ brother Paul (Jonathan Sadowski) who is working in the Ukraine. For something different they decide to take an “extreme tour” with guide Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko), visiting the city of Pripyat, the city near the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that was hurriedly abandoned 25 years earlier when the reactor exploded. They are joined on the tour by another couple, Zoe (Ingrid Bolso Berdal) and her boyfriend Michael (Nathan Phillips).

     Denied access to the site at a military checkpoint, Uri nevertheless knows a back way into the city. After spending time exploring the abandoned buildings, they return to their van at dusk to find that it has been disabled. With no choice, they decide to spend the night in the van. But it seems that in Pripyat they are not alone.

     Chernobyl Diaries, a low budget horror film written and produced by Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), is a film that builds tension by leaving the horrors mostly unseen. This approach succeeds in the first two thirds of the film’s running time better than some critics give it credit for. The acting and dialogue are natural, there is no exposition or big speeches and the film unfolds with a moving camera POV rather like a video diary but without the annoying “video” artefacts. We see nothing the characters don’t see as the camera follows them through the deserted streets into desolated buildings, rooms and corridors. Indeed the set of abandoned buildings is unusual and quite impressive.

     The sound design is another plus, perhaps the highlight of Chernobyl Diaries. There is ambient sound in the surrounds but the film makes very effective use of silences; as one character observes, there are no sounds of birds within the Chernobyl exclusion zone. So when sound is heard, such as doors banging, it is very effective in building tension. The music is also very low key so does not signal the shocks; and shocks there are in the film, many of which work effectively because of the long silences that preceded them. For example, the attack on the van by dogs is sudden and well staged, carried by the sound as little can be seen in the dark as the POV remains within the van.

     What undermines the tension, however, is some indifferent plotting and the final third of the film. Characters in horror films are there to be picked off in turn so the acting does not have to be high class as long as it is believable. The cast in Chernobyl Diaries are generally likeable although it is Devin Kelley and Nathan Phillips who come off best, as an attempt to provide a bit of a conflict between brothers Chris and Paul feels too contrived. But when the protagonists are revealed, the tension dissolves and the final third of the film becomes an underwhelming chase up shadowy corridors and down stairs that is nothing new and undoes most of what went before.

     Chernobyl Diaries does show us something new in the deserted city set. It also has an excellent sound design and delivers a few effective shocks, successfully relying upon the terror of unseen. Let down by the final third, the film is still worth a watch.

Video

     Chernobyl Diaries is presented in the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a low budget film shot with a moving camera. Detail is on the soft side, and contract and brightness varies which I suspect may be deliberate, not a fault of the DVD authoring. Colours are mostly dull and muted, reflecting the deserted landscape and abandoned buildings. Blacks have some shading but are generally OK, shadow detail is good, and when it is not I suspect it was deliberate, hiding of the terrors.

     Other than occasional slight ghosting with movement, marks and artefacts are absent.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available in a clear white font.

     This is not a print to show off your system, but I suspect the look is what the filmmakers intended.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio choices are English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448Kbps plus an English audio narration for the vision impaired at 256 Kbps.

     Dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout. As noted above, the sound design is very good. There is ambient sound in the surrounds but the film makes very effective use of silences. When sound is heard in the surrounds, such as doors banging, it is very effective in building tension, released when attacks occur; then the sound is loud with some nice directional effects. So while not continuously aggressive, the audio delivers the tension and shocks when it needs to. The sub-woofer added depth to the echoes in the deserted buildings and the shocks.

     The score by Diego Stocco is used sparingly, allowing the tension to build naturally. It is augmented by some pop music from Supergrass, Marilyn Manson and others.

    Lip synchronisation is fine.

     This audio is very good and effective.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are no extras, not even a trailer.

     The Region 1 US release seems similar to ours. The Blu-ray, both here and in the US, includes a few extras, but they are very minor and have a combined running time of only about 7 minutes. The Region 2 UK release has extras listed; I can find no details of what they are, but if they are the same as the Blu-ray they are hardly essential. Buy local.

     Six tourists join an “extreme” tour to Pripyat, the city near the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that was hurriedly abandoned when the disaster occurred. When their van is disabled they are forced to remain in the city overnight, and they find they are not alone. Chernobyl Diaries has a good deserted city set, an excellent sound design and delivers a few shocks, but is let down by an underwhelming final third.

     The video is acceptable, the audio very good. There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall