Movie Monday: Preview of “Chernobyl Diaries”

Once upon a time I wondered, “When Chernobyl opens to tourists, will there be ghost tours?” And ever since Destination Truth‘s visit there, I’ve wondered, “Just how haunted is Pripyat anyway?”

Well, Oren Peli is going to explore the theme of haunted Chernobyl with a new movie coming out this summer: Chernobyl Diaries. Here’s the Storyline as it appears on IMDB:

Six tourists hire an extreme tour guide who takes them to the abandoned city Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. During their exploration, they soon discover they are not alone.

I saw a preview of it this past weekend. I instantly wanted to be excited about it.

I saw “wanted to be” because I’m torn as to whether or not I like Oren Peli. I have to say Paranormal Activity had its merits. Overall I was entertained. I also watched The River and it kept me interested enough to come back each week.

However, the trouble I had with both was the perspective they were told from. The “found footage” angle was novel in Paranormal Activity‘s case. But it should’ve been blended in, not made the primary vehicle for telling the story, in The River‘s case. It’s just not always credible that there’d be a camera handy to capture most of the back story and a lot of the primary action like they were trying to sell.

That’s why I’m a little leery of Chernobyl Diaries. However, from the previews it appears that while cameras are once again prevalent, Peli also may have broken away from his standard “found footage” story-telling style and didn’t do that in this case.

I hope. Even if he did do it, I’ll still watch. Chernobyl fascinates me, and this movie looks like it has the potential to be creepy as hell.

Does Peli have another horror blockbuster on his hands? I sort of hope so. Not only because I want to be entertained, but it’d be exciting to see extreme tourism and paranormal tourism getting a boost.

Because the media has a funny way of impacting real life. People will seek out this sort of travel after being introduced to it like this. (Not that getting stuck in abandoned radioactive ghost towns with who knows what kind of creatures hunting you is fun for all. Only those of us with the most macabre sense of adventure.)

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.