Chernobyl Diaries

What it's about:

Chernobyl Diaries is an original story from Oren Peli, who first terrified audiences with his groundbreaking thriller Paranormal Activity. The film follows a group of six young tourists who, looking to go off the beaten path, hire an "extreme tour" guide.

Ignoring warnings, he takes them into the city of Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, but a deserted town since the disaster more than 25 years ago. After a brief exploration of the abandoned city, however, the group soon finds themselves stranded, only to discover that they are not alone... 

What the critics thought:

"The lack of suspense and surprise in this dispiritingly rote film becomes its own form of contamination."
- Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

"Standard-issue genre accessories (dank stairways, flashlights, overcast skies, frosty windows) abound; shocks are mild and few."
- Andy Webster, New York Times

"With the faux-verité aesthetics of [Rec], the American-tourists-in-Eastern-European-hell setup of Hostel, and the brain of a mushy radioactive mutant zombie thingie, Chernobyl Diaries is little more than decomposed horror leftovers."
- Nick Schager, Slant Magazine