I am a fan of the Paranormal Activity franchise; and I also own a copy of Paranormal Entity - a rip off from the original I had the guilty pleasure of actually enjoying. I was surprised to see the writer of P.A. and the rip off P.E. working together to make Chernobyl Diaries. So ignoring the bad reviews (and my better judgment) I took a chance to see if the movie would live up to it's potential.
Like a lot of people, I thought the trailer looked interesting and thought it had good potential. The problem is, the movie is just an extended version of the trailer. There is nothing else to expect from it. Cliché characters and a cliché set of monsters that were ripped from the Hills Have Eyes. There's really no plot either, what you see in the trailer is exactly what you get. An hour and a half of trailer.
Several parts made no sense, either. Such as:
1. The group of people were there at least a day and a half - yet nobody complained about being hungry or thirsty. If I were scared, running around, breathing hard; I would have the nastiest case of cotton mouth. Yet they all seem appear and act well nourished and hydrated. The story starts out as a day trip, yet nobody could be bothered to pack a cooler for lunch. Doh!
2. There's a scene where a bear surprises them, but runs right by as if it doesn't see anyone. Nobody gets cornered, mauled, or put in danger in any way. It just runs by them and they leave the building like someone farted rather than being in mortal danger.
3. The "monsters" in this movie are simply people who have been the victims of secret experiments of a nature undisclosed to the audience. So like any 1950s b-rated horror movie, we're supposed to take it on faith that simply because they are mutated humans; they are by their nature are irrational, murderous, and cannibalistic. Logic would deduce that being kept in a lab all your life would give you a taste for cardboard pizza, not human flesh.
4. We never get to see what they actually look like. All they are is a blur of pale bald heads and dark uniforms. Now, I am all for the "Less is more" approach to FX; but it would have been nice to see a scene where they stumble on a dead one so the audience can get a good look at exactly what the protagonists are dealing with. I left the movie theater feeling ripped off because I could barely see what the characters were running from all that time.
5. Stereotyping sucks. The portrayal of Slavic people as rough speaking brutes is annoying and insulting. The portrayal of young women as carefree partiers from Girls Gone Wild is annoying and insulting. It's been done to death in every freaking horror movie since god knows when. Give it a rest already.
6. Yuri seems to know more than what he's letting on, yet there is no twist to his character. I half expected to see him pop up later in the movie (until they found his body, that is) and expose himself as an agent in the entire mess. That at least, would have been *something* to break up the monotony.
In conclusion, this movie wasted it's own potential. The tricks that worked in the Paranormal Activity/Paranormal Entity movies do not work here. It works for a ghost, or a demon, but not a flesh and blood menace. I give this a 3 for competent acting and for a fast moving plot that at least doesn't *feel* like a complete waste of time (even though it is).
Like a lot of people, I thought the trailer looked interesting and thought it had good potential. The problem is, the movie is just an extended version of the trailer. There is nothing else to expect from it. Cliché characters and a cliché set of monsters that were ripped from the Hills Have Eyes. There's really no plot either, what you see in the trailer is exactly what you get. An hour and a half of trailer.
Several parts made no sense, either. Such as:
1. The group of people were there at least a day and a half - yet nobody complained about being hungry or thirsty. If I were scared, running around, breathing hard; I would have the nastiest case of cotton mouth. Yet they all seem appear and act well nourished and hydrated. The story starts out as a day trip, yet nobody could be bothered to pack a cooler for lunch. Doh!
2. There's a scene where a bear surprises them, but runs right by as if it doesn't see anyone. Nobody gets cornered, mauled, or put in danger in any way. It just runs by them and they leave the building like someone farted rather than being in mortal danger.
3. The "monsters" in this movie are simply people who have been the victims of secret experiments of a nature undisclosed to the audience. So like any 1950s b-rated horror movie, we're supposed to take it on faith that simply because they are mutated humans; they are by their nature are irrational, murderous, and cannibalistic. Logic would deduce that being kept in a lab all your life would give you a taste for cardboard pizza, not human flesh.
4. We never get to see what they actually look like. All they are is a blur of pale bald heads and dark uniforms. Now, I am all for the "Less is more" approach to FX; but it would have been nice to see a scene where they stumble on a dead one so the audience can get a good look at exactly what the protagonists are dealing with. I left the movie theater feeling ripped off because I could barely see what the characters were running from all that time.
5. Stereotyping sucks. The portrayal of Slavic people as rough speaking brutes is annoying and insulting. The portrayal of young women as carefree partiers from Girls Gone Wild is annoying and insulting. It's been done to death in every freaking horror movie since god knows when. Give it a rest already.
6. Yuri seems to know more than what he's letting on, yet there is no twist to his character. I half expected to see him pop up later in the movie (until they found his body, that is) and expose himself as an agent in the entire mess. That at least, would have been *something* to break up the monotony.
In conclusion, this movie wasted it's own potential. The tricks that worked in the Paranormal Activity/Paranormal Entity movies do not work here. It works for a ghost, or a demon, but not a flesh and blood menace. I give this a 3 for competent acting and for a fast moving plot that at least doesn't *feel* like a complete waste of time (even though it is).