Chernobyl Diaries

Play trailer

Chernobyl Diaries

R

2012

1h 26m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

18%

Tomatometer

90 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.

Critics Consensus

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

Read Critics Reviews

Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

06/24/2012

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

Go to Full Review

Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

06/22/2012

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.

Go to Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

06/21/2012

2/5

There is a scary and surreal appearance by a bear.

Go to Full Review

Patrick Cavanaugh

The Wolfman Cometh

09/22/2023

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.

Go to Full Review

Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

08/19/2022

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.

Go to Full Review

C.H. Newell

Father Son Holy Gore

05/03/2019

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.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Armando B

@Knightowl_1991 May 5

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.

See more

Steven W

@Stevensonwu Nov 20

Pretty good and scary and love it.

See more

Jaime A

@Jimmy3302 05/22/2025

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.

See more

04/29/2025

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.

See more

Phùng Đ

@RT41285271 11/15/2024

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

See more

Gaming U

@RT92267917 01/09/2024

Crazy movie from start to finish

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Bradley Parker

Director

Ingrid Bolsø Berdal

Zoe

Jonathan Sadowski

Paul

Devin Kelley

Amanda

Jesse McCartney

Chris

Olivia Taylor Dudley

Natalie

The Strangers

50%

48%

The Strangers

Watchlist

Red State

62%

54%

Red State

Watchlist

Sinister

64%

62%

Sinister

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Sinister

Return to House on Haunted Hill

43%

20%

Return to House on Haunted Hill

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

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