Chernobyl Diaries

To speak of "horror" in a movie, you should consider several factors: the stage where everything happens, the social environment (which also influences), the characters that make us feel terror and, finally, our eyes on the story.

We have seen the trailer. A group of young people delve into a place with radioactive activity, are stranded and begin to suffer misfortune. But we've already seen films of this type. The clearest example would be "The Hills Have Eyes", both in the original by Wes Craven and in the 2006 remake.

The story and excitement of the movie "Chernobyl Diaries", however, does not add much to the few minutes you can see in these trailers. Also, it is not trying to deceive anyone: it's a simple movie, with only one simple objective (to scare), but does it succeed at it? At least for me, I did not get scared.

Terror is present in the situation per se rather than in what happens to the young group, also because and we never know what happens there. It is not clear what or who is attacking them. However, by succeeding in delivering two or three times startling moments, the film fulfills its main purpose: to entertain.

Not the best horror movie, not the best story, not the best approach or the best direction, but when you watch the trailer you already know what you are going to watch, so no one can feel cheated because everyone gets what they were promised: jump from your seat three times and get on with your life.

Director: Bradley Parker

Writers: Oren Peli (screenplay), Carey Van Dyke (screenplay)

 Stars: Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski and Olivia Dudley