Chernobyl Diaries

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Chernobyl Diaries

R

2012

1h 26m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

19%

Tomatometer

91 Reviews

28%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

A group of young tourists (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Jonathan Sadowski, Devin Kelley), hoping for an adventure off the beaten path, hires an extreme-tour guide. In spite of warnings, the tour guide takes the sightseers to the town of Pripyat, Ukraine, once home to workers at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant but abandoned after the 1986 nuclear disaster. After briefly exploring the ghost town, the tourists find themselves stranded -- and worse, they are not alone.

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Critics Consensus

Despite an interesting premise and spooky atmospherics, Chernobyl Diaries is mostly short on suspense and originality.

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Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

Jun 24, 2012

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

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Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Jun 22, 2012

3/5

For a film with radioactive bears running around, it's often strangely dull, though the final descent into the concrete maw of the reactor itself is memorably hellish.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Jun 21, 2012

2/5

There is a scary and surreal appearance by a bear.

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Patrick Cavanaugh

The Wolfman Cometh

Sep 22, 2023

2/5

Are arbitrarily blend of cinematic and narrative tropes that fails to make good on any of the inherent storytelling potential within the locale.

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Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

Aug 19, 2022

1.5/5

One good thing about “Chernobyl Diaries” that it doesn’t prolong the agony. At a running time of under 90 minutes, I was quickly able to go about my business of forgetting the forgettable.

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C.H. Newell

Father Son Holy Gore

May 3, 2019

3.5/5

Nothing innovative, but a decent little effort in the urban exploration corner of horror, using some tragic history as a modern Gothic setup.

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B P

@Bradster69 Sep 3, 2026

Not Bad, but Not My Favorite

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Armando B

@Knightowl_1991 May 5, 2026

All my hopes were down after I saw this one. The only thing scary in this film is another bad quality horror flick. Nothing interesting to see here as the cast members are lame and the story doesn't have any good twists or turns. very disappointed about this film. So for this being one of the worst movies that I have seen, I give " Chernobyl Diaries" an F.

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Steven W

@Stevensonwu Nov 20, 2025

Pretty good and scary and love it.

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Jaime A

@Jimmy3302 May 22, 2025

I know the movie is stupid, but I don’t know what it has to maintain me to watch it again, the acting is bad but doesn’t affect so bad the movie, is fun to watch, not to take it seriously.

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Apr 29, 2025

Never understood the hate for this movie. It’s super entertaining and the acting is very good. The storyline could be better, but there’s not a single part of this movie that isn’t entertaining.

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Phùng Đ

@RT41285271 Nov 15, 2024

There is no explanation whatsoever about that "thing" the characters faced. The movie is just crazy from start to finish.

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Bradley Parker

Director

Ingrid Bolsø Berdal

Zoe

Jonathan Sadowski

Paul

Devin Kelley

Amanda

Jesse McCartney

Chris

Olivia Taylor Dudley

Natalie

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Synopsis

A group of young tourists (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Jonathan Sadowski, Devin Kelley), hoping for an adventure off the beaten path, hires an extreme-tour guide. In spite of warnings, the tour guide takes the sightseers to the town of Pripyat, Ukraine, once home to workers at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant but abandoned after the 1986 nuclear disaster. After briefly exploring the ghost town, the tourists find themselves stranded -- and worse, they are not alone.

Director: Bradley Parker
Producer: Oren Peli, Brian Witten
Screenwriter: Oren Peli, Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Oren Peli, E1 Entertainment, Brian Witten Pictures
Rating: R (Some Bloody Images|Pervasive Language|Violence)
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 25, 2012, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 7, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $18.1M
Runtime: 1h 26m

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