Chernobyl Diaries: Critic Reviews

Standard-issue genre accessories (dank stairways, flashlights, overcast skies, frosty windows) abound; shocks are mild and few.

There is a scary and surreal appearance by a bear.

Avoid a boredom meltdown and give this formulaic scarefest a wide berth.

The real stars of the movie are the tired devices and plot points. They're famous, but they're as old as Betty White: The Guide Is Dead, The Van Won't Start, Her Shirt Has a Plunging Neckline, Don't Go in There.

You'd never wish tragedy upon anyone, but at some point the characters become harder and harder to feel sorry for. Get a clue, people.

Scattered stretches of suspense and a few undeniably potent shocks are not enough to dissipate the sense of deja vu that prevails throughout Chernobyl Diaries.

Well-paced direction from first-timer Bradley Parker layers on the tension and tosses in some worthy scares.

It takes a good hour for one of the leads to suggest that "we need to be smart about this." You want to be smart? Don't take an unauthorized tour of a nuclear disaster site.

You might actively root for their collective demise, if you could rouse yourself to care one way or the other. Go gallivanting in Chernobyl and you get what you pay for, nimrods.

Chernobyl Diaries is afflicted with a fatal flaw that damages many horror films: after a better-than-average setup and a promising first half, everything falls apart.

A basic monster movie that benefits greatly from its unique setting, Chernobyl Diaries again demonstrates Oren Peli's ability to wrest scares with minimal production values and a clever premise.

The lack of suspense and surprise in this dispiritingly rote film becomes its own form of contamination.

After one effective scene involving a radiated Russian bear, the quality of first-time director Bradley Parker's narrative starts melting down like a TEPCO facility.

There's nothing but many empty scares and zero resolution...

While it won't win any prizes for originality, Chernobyl Diaries is still a relatively effective horror experience and certainly not deserving of some of the one-star reviews being afforded its way.

Its strengths make it worth paying attention to, while its weaknesses prevent it from becoming the first-class chiller it had the potential to be.

Unsatisfactory both as a low-budget schlocker and as a piece of entertainment.

There's nothing interesting, creative, innovative, exciting, suspenseful, or scary about it. We just sit there and wait for it to be over.

Chernobyl Diaries is a mismatched effort that was working with some intriguing core elements -- undermined by worn-out recreations of familiar horror set-ups.

Sitting through this shaky-cam disaster of Chernobyl-like proportions is simply not worth your time, money or equilibrium.

Dialogue is banal, the camerawork's predictable, and any subtext's missing in all the action. The flick's irradiated with a general insensitivity to human tragedy. The place, though, is deeply eerie on its own.

"Chernobyl Diaries" is just senseless, idiotic, and pointless. If a horror movie is going to be chock full of people making stupid decisions, it would be nice if they were at least somewhat logical.

There's a great idea hiding in there somewhere - shame they didn't find it.

You've seen this sort of thing before - just not set in such an unusual locale. 'Chernobyl Diaries' delivers on atmosphere - at least, during the first. That's not surprising considering that Oren Peli of 'Paranormal Activity' fame is a producer.

Someone should bury Chernobyl Diaries deep underground in a lead-lined box so it cannot contaminate any more film goers.