I am literally praying to God that they do not show this movie in Ukraine, because if they do, they are making a HUGE mistake and are going to piss A LOT of people off there. And it's not just because the makers of this film decided to turn a devastating catastrophe into a mutant "Hills Have Eyes"-type horror film, but the whole film itself is just one big joke. Terrible acting, very few jump scenes (maybe one at the most)and no real terror at all. All I did for an hour and a half is stare at several half-minded teenagers run around an abandoned city with absolutlely know clue of what they were doing or where they were going. Rent this at your own risk if you absolutely must! As for the ending: Move along "The Devil Inside." This film has taken its rightful place for having THE WORST ending in all of movie history!… Collapse

I really wanted to like this movie, I did. This story had potential. But I feel like very minimal effort was put into this film. There were some interesting ideas and tense scenes that hinted at a decent movie, but most of it was poorly done. There where times in which I did not feel like I was watching a movie at all, and that I was just watching a fake one, and I was waiting for the real one to begin. And the ending (my God, that ENDING!) was so obviously written last minute. Do not spend $10 like me and see this in theatres. If you feel like you need to see this movie asap, resist the urge, I beg you, and at least wait until it's rent-able.… Expand

Nothing. Nothing for 90 minutes. Characters completely stupid, half movie is useless and the other half is irritating. What a waste of a beautiful set as can be Chernobyl was. Annoyng.

The concept of this film first off, was just ridiculous and impossible, but obviously we don't go into every movie looking for realism, so it did have potential to be scary, but boy did this film fall flat. From the acting, to the script, to everything. There was just flaw after flaw after flaw. It had its tense moments where you feel as though somethings going to jump out and scare you...but then nothing happened. It was nothing but a big fakeout. This film is dumb, weak, and extremely predictable. 2/10 don't see this pile of junk!… Expand

It felt like a low-budget, direct-to-video movie. How on Earth did this get a theatrical release? Also, why is it rated R? It had no on-screen violence, no gore, and no nudity. Really?! It should have been PG-13 at most. If you want to see this movie, do yourself a favor and just watch the trailer. Guess what. The trailer shows almost every scary thing about the movie. Surprise! What a disappointment.… Expand

Oren Peli is best known for the Paranormal Activity series and last year's favorite "Insidious." "Chernobyl Diaries" is not one of them. This could be a big misfire for a critical indie favorite. The actors are kinda boring to me and I don't see any horror monsters, just a dose of radiant heatwaves and a rip-off of last year's Matt Damon film "Contagion." All I see is a couple of 90 minutes of wasted memories of the 2002 disaster. Get on with the "Insidious" sequel already. Chernobyl Diaries is a mess and I hope Oren Peli learned a lesson today: We don't even care what Chernobyl means.… Expand

Chernobyl Diaries continues in the vein of many recent horror flicks, relying on an overabundance of jump scenes -- replete with the often-favored loud noises -- to suggest that the audience should be scared. Uh, huh. The movie opens as three American friends meet a fourth in Kiev. Paul and Chris are brothers, Natalie is Chris's girlfriend, and Amanda is their single friend. Mostly these traits define the characters, who are otherwise easily startled. Paul decides to take the others to see the Chernobyl reactors and nearby town. The four are led by local tour guide Uri and joined by two other tourists. When the military denies the group access, they should take it as a warning sign. As in most horror movies, they don't. Uri utilizes a little-known entryway, and soon the group has found its way into the eerie, deserted town of Prypiat. These scenes are certainly among the best in the movie, providing what's certainly the most haunting imagery. Of course the horror aspects wait just around the corner to negate some of the goodwill earned here. After an odd encounter with some wildlife, the group returns to the van to find various engine parts missing. Eventually someone wanders off, and then someone else, and so on. Though plausible character motivation is not a hallmark of the horror genre, it would be nice if there were, say, some. This is the sort of movie where audiences will want to shout at the screen while characters make the wrong decisions. The handheld camerawork does the action no favors, and a number of scenes are just too dark to see. Some thrills do pay off -- namely a well-advertized jump sequence -- but most are negated by the fact that the characters are too often too stupid to care about. The movie does not fare well in the wake of the excellent genre commentary The Cabin in the Woods. In addition to this, the use of an actual tragedy to masquerade as a horror plot comes off as crass and shameless. In comparison to Paranormal Activity -- a connection incessantly boasted in the ads -- Chernobyl Diaries is perhaps less dull though no more remarkable. Undiscerning horror fans and those looking for a few jumps may well enjoy the movie, but anyone hoping for something more will only be in for a disappointment.… Expand

This movies is not for real fans of horror movies. This movie is mix of all real horror movies. This movie does have some suspenseful parts but only near the end ,I do not recommend this to anybody,

The problem with Chernobyl Diaries is that the way the characters behave isn't true to human nature. The characters act not according to human nature, but according to the necessities of the plot. I use the term "characters" loosely. Most are one dimensional at best. They exist merely to supply the film with the necessary bodies for a body count. When characters struggle, it looks like the setup to a joke, and we laugh at them, making Chernobyl Diaries unintentionally funny in parts. There was, in fact, a fair amount of laughter from the audience at a midnight screening I attended. The largely unknown cast of actors struggle with the material, unable to flesh out thinly drawn characters. An audience member gave a forced clap at Chernobyl Diaries' end. His sarcasm was not missed; it was finally over. +1 to this sir… Expand

Well i know that Metacritic is giving us the 5000 maximum character to write our reviews. But for this movie i think i don't need 1000-5000 characters to write the review of this movie. This movie is a total crap, didn't live up to it's expectation. Bad acting, really not scary at all, and stupid execution. And i think this movie gives all of us a very valuable lesson, and that is: TO NOT GET EXCITED VERY QUICKLY WHEN YOU SEE THE TRAILER OF THE FILM.… Expand

Suspense and atmosphere may be present at times as with a couple well constructed scares, but Chernobyl Diaries is a horribly executed film that could have been fun but ends up being cheap and frustrating.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I found the first half of the movie good. If it would have stuck with the first half, and continued as a documentary, this movie would have been a 9 or a 10, easily. The second half of this movie is frustrating, with bad camera angles, and constant sprinting from zombies, something which is being overused. The idea was great, even with the zombies, and this movie had a lot of potential. How the movie was presented was close to pathetic, and it was just frustrating seeing the wasted potential of this movie.… Expand

OK so let's clear some things up. 1. Chernobyl Diaries is NOT a found footage film. 2. Chernobyl Diaries does not deserve to be in the green on Metacritic. With all of that said, Chernobyl Diaries is a bad movie but it certainly had potential. The cast is pretty stupid when it comes to making logical, life saving decisions and do everything a typical human in a horror film would do. While the situation does deem itself to be damn creepy, and at times what does happen on screen is very creepy, it's enough to really get you. The ending, while predictable and very messed up, does its job and closes the door on any potential of a sequel.… Expand

What I enjoyed the most, was the complete lack of logic, no plot, bad acting and less brain then Paris Hilton has

This is ONE of the worst movies I have ever seen. Its not even worthy of watching for free on T.V.....Jumpy filming, bad acting, to many mistakes. If I tell you all that was wrong with this movie, I would have to check the box for spoilers.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This movie, is bad and good. But, mostly bad. What really pissed me off about this movie was how it ended.. It didn't leave me extremely disappointed, but extremely pissed. You find out that Chernobyl is pretty much controlled by these people. The movie went too fast. It was one thing after the other. The acting was pretty awful. But, I was somewhat entertained.… Expand

I did not think this was a great film its pretty low-budget to be fair so it's not got much to work with so taking that in to consideration its worth a watch Hills Have Eyes comes to Russia.

Besides the point of it taking a controversial stance of actually daring to touch the already sensitive subject of Chernobyl, it doesn't give any love or care into it at all. We've been on this ride before hundreds of times. The ninety minutes of this was the longest two years of my life. With zombies and vampires on the rise and flooding the markets in the movie and game section I thought it would be different, I actually miss not and going seeing a zombie or vampire film that's barely passed as B-Movie now. If people want to explore Chernobyl and go to Pripyat, my advice would be to actually go there or stop by and pick up S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl for PC from 2007 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat for PC from 2010. They offer more entertainment and actual scares then this does while actually getting to see real time mapped landscapes and scenery from their current time.… Expand

In order to fairly review this movie, I really have to look at the first and second half almost as completely different movies. The first half was pretty good. It was fairly well-done, and the tension slowly builds. I've always had a minor fascination with Chernobyl, and the movie did a good job of reproducing the look and feel of the place (well, early in the movie that is). Unfortunately, the second half of the movie is so ridiculously over-the-top, drawn-out, implausible, and repetitious, that I left the movie hating this movie (even though 45 minutes in to it I'd liked it). I don't want to give any ay spoilers, but I think that if they'd made a movie about wild dogs (ala Cujo) or a dangerous gang of hoodlums (something akin to "The Strangers" perhaps) living in Chernobyl, they'd have had a winner... but by instead going the horror route, they ruined a great setup.… Expand

I didn't see it. I won't see it, ever. Why? Over 350,000 people were evacuated from their homes after this catastrophe. Deaths and birth defects and cancer still occur to this day. How would we feel if some B-list Russian director made a cheesy film about September 11? Would you support him by seeing it?

I realize I have nothing much too say about this movie, probably because nothing much happened. If you had told me, before my screening, that someone could make a boring mutant zombie movie, I wouldnâ

While this was filmed really well, it was an awful movie. I felt guilty later since so many people suffered from that incident, and here I just paid $$ to watch basically a spoof on a tragic event - - wished I would have donated the money to a charity instead.

An interesting concept with flaws with the actors as they unravel to become the most annoying and dumb characters ever to be in modern day films. I found myself in tense situations because of some of the interesting choices of "freaks" and "creatures". But overall vastly flawed.

There is no denying the set pieces are amazing. I will give the film one point for that. Another point comes from the creative writing and conversations the characters have towards the start of the movie. And the third and final point comes from the fact that this is not a found footage film. I'm sick of those. Other than that this is a scare-deprived, cop out ending, recycled piece of garbage.

Whilst there are a few moments where tension is built nicely, the fact that the only interesting thing about the film atall is the setting says a lot. A forgettable breeze of a horror movie that packs a few moments of brief tension, but no actual scares to back it up.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "Chernobyl Diaries" has a promising setup, but ultimately gives you nothing you haven't seen before in countless other horror films. When a group of American teenagers accepts an offer from a Russian extreme tourist guide to an abandoned town just outside Chernobyl, they quickly discover they're not alone and find themselves in a grim fight for survival . . . only, really, there's less fighting in this movie than just vaguely incoherent running, chasing and split-second scary images. It honestly plays and feels like a found-footage movie, despite not actually being one, and although the acting is decent, it's only at its best in the first act, when it's relying on the atmosphere of the abandoned town itself to build suspense. After that, you just get some dogs, a bunch of people you never see clearly, a series of moronic decisions to continue further and further into the high-radiation zones (they actually end up right outside the friggin' Chernobyl reactor), and a conclusion that is as unsurprising as it is unoriginal. I'll give the film credit for its characters, as they are much more believable and likeable than most other horror flick teenagers, but they're only slightly less idiotic in their decisions and, of course, all die (the last one counts, I say). The result? A rather messy and underdeveloped film that wastes an engaging context on cliches, tropes and a thorough lack of authentic tension or excitement.… Expand

This movie stinks, just another terrible horror movie. How fun would it be to visit Chernobyl? That is a serious question that this movie asks. Chernobyl Diaries is one of the worst of 2012.