Chernobyl Diaries

Chernobyl Diaries is a 2012 American horror film co-written and produced by Oren Peli, and directed by Brad Parker, in his directorial debut. It stars Jonathan Sadowski, Jesse McCartney, Devin Kelley, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Nathan Phillips, and Dimitri Diatchenko as a group of people who tour the abandoned Ukraine town of Pripyat, which was impacted by the Chernobyl disaster, and end up discovering a dangerous threat lurking. The film was shot on location, as well as in Hungary, and Serbia.

Chernobyl Diaries was theatrically released on May 25, 2012, by Alcon Entertainment through Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and audience for its clichéd formula, characters, and special effects; some controversy was aimed towards the depiction of victims of the disaster. Despite this, it was a moderate box office success, grossing $37 million worldwide with a budget of $1 million.

Plot

Chris, his girlfriend Natalie, and their mutual friend Amanda are traveling across Europe. They stop in Kyiv, Ukraine, to visit Chris' brother, Paul, before heading on to Moscow, Russia, where Chris intends to propose to Natalie.

Paul suggests they go for an extreme tour of Pripyat, an abandoned town which sits in the shadow of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Chris is against going on the tour and would rather stay on the original plan of going to Moscow, but Paul insists. They meet tour guide Uri and are joined by a backpacking couple, Norwegian Zoe and Australian Michael. Uri drives them through Ukraine, before they arrive at a Chernobyl Exclusion Zone checkpoint, where they are refused entry by the Ukrainian military. He then takes them to an alternate entry he discovered years ago.