An exceptional horror movie can engage the audience in a slew of problems, complexity of characters, and an original plot and setting that keep the viewer in suspense the entire time.
Chernobyl Diaries, directed by Bradley Parker and produced by Paranormal Activity helmer Oren Peli, only does some of that. Based on the true 1986 disaster of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, Chernobyl Diaries beautifully provides a unique backdrop for this horror film, while unfortunately having repetitious horror sequences and  undercutting the characters.

For anyone who has traveled in a foreign country, Chernobyl Diaries is an example of tourism gone horribly wrong. The audience is first introduced to three twenty-something Americans making their way through Europe on vacation. They stop in Ukraine to visit Chris’ (Jesse McCartney) older brother, Paul (Jonathan Sadowski), who moved to Kiev some years prior for unknown reasons. Originally, Chris planned on traveling to Moscow with his brother and two other travel companions, his soon-to-be-fiance Natalie (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and her best friend Amanda (Devin Kelley). But, older brother, jerk, and risk-taker Paul convinces his baby brother and friends to instead take a day of “extreme tourism” to visit the deserted town of Pripyat, which housed the families and workers of the nuclear plant of Chernobyl prior to the nuclear explosion in 1986. After much convincing by Paul and ignored safety concerns by Chris, the four Americans travel to Pripyat with tour guide and ex-military solider Yri (Dimitri Diatchenk), and two new-found newly-wed friends, an easy-going Australian man (Nathan Phillips) and a Norwegian woman (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) who eventually becomes the annoying female who continuously cries hysterically. After a denied entry to Pripyat by intimidating military guards, Yri leads the group into a secret entrance and many frightening events begin to take place.

The movie is scripted in such a way that the viewer is given a snapshot of the tourists’ lives, and we don’t learn much about who they are other than their obvious stereotypes. As a result, the characters are not well-developed, no audience-to-character emotional connection is created, and there is no remorse for the characters once things begin to go downhill. The three females seem to have the typical, distressed-woman-and-unintelligent-persona, just as in many other horror films. While Yri brings some well-timed comedic remarks to the table while giving off the strapping Eastern-European tough guy vibe, Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski, and Nathan Phillips don’t bring anything substantial to the film, and the only thing the audience really learns about them are their first names.

To balance the character problems, the setting and use of silence brings some redemption to the film. Filming in Eastern Europe and in Pripyat itself brought a true Eastern Bloc feel to the movie, exemplifying the small living quarters as well as some Soviet propaganda on large buildings, which was very common in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. The periodic use of silence is also successful, staying true to the theme that “nature has taken over” Pripyat after the immediate abandonment of the town after the nuclear disaster. The cinematography was shot and the screenplay was written in a common horror movie style, in such a way that the viewer feels as if they are walking around with the characters side-by-side, rather than looking onto the scenes with artistic camera angles and an eloquently written script. While unoriginal, this cinematography proved to be effective for Chernobyl Diaries.

While the fear of the unknown in a uniquely eerie setting was the main source of horror throughout, the horror sequences became overly redundant, as there wasn’t much variety to the events after the characters’ abandonment in Pripyat. This isn’t to say the sequences didn’t jump at the audience, but eventually there wasn’t much surprise as to what the characters would endure next. Overall, Chernobyl Diaries’ formulaic plot and bland characters were redeemed by the real feeling that “this could happen to you while traveling in Europe” and the original use of a post-Soviet landscape and historical disaster, leaving the audience questioning a Ukrainian government cover-up and Chernobyl today.

Grade: C+

Rated: R (for violence, some bloody images and pervasive language.)

Chernobyl Diaries opens in theaters on May 25, 2012.