Left Behind

At first glance, Ghosts of Chernobyl (aka After Chernobyl) seems like just another run of the mill found footage movie. But then the end credits roll and they had some behind the scenes footage playing - and low and behold, they actually had a crew on this!

Believe it or not, there was what looked to be 5 crew members plus the cast actually on-site in Pripyat during the day and night to film, which is impressive seeing as there are obviously some heavy restrictions on the Exclusion Zone. They had a full makeup for the ghost and even a steadicam operator.

So how did we get this bland rehash of a movie?

First off, one has to be slightly lenient towards the fact a non-English crew shot an English language film, but that can only go so far. The plot is absurd (no one can accidentally wander into Chernobyl without hiking 10+ miles). We have direct lifts from other FF movies, an annoying cast, and bad CGI.

The scenes filmed at the groups van are so blurry and low rez they look to be filmed on an iPhone 4. However, once the group arrives to the abandoned city, things pick up a bit. Hounded by a mysterious bloody ghost, the group tries to figure out who she is and where they are at.

Seriously, none of them know what Chernobyl is. Sadly though, such a vapid group of young people honestly might not, but when the audience already knows where they are at, it gets annoying really fast hearing them constantly go "why was this town abandoned?".

Which leads to the biggest issue. They filmed in Chernobyl, yet apart from a handful of shots, it could have been filmed in any blown out abandoned building. The nighttime scenes are wasted with such a low light you don't see any scope, and the day scenes are largely shot in generic abandoned spots. I would half suspect they only were allowed one day and night to film at the actual location with the rushed feel of the shots and editing, but then again, the bts footage shows otherwise.

There is a decent concept behind this, but as yet no one has been able to deliver something worthwhile, as Chernobyl Diaries is just as bad as this.

This movie is a worse disaster than the actual Chernobyl Meltdown itself!!! Where should I begin, well the fact that these nitwits are in Russia and somehow stumble into Ukraine and manage to then unwittingly stumble into the EXCLUSION ZONE which seems to be almost totally unguarded!!! Then the whole nonsense of having both radiated survivors AND the ghosts of dead radiation victims come after them!?!?!? Give me a frigging break!

The writing is totally amateurish with unbelievable lines delivered by some of the worst actors to ever appear in a movie!!! The plotline seems to portray these idiots as too stupid to put two and two together and realize that an abandoned CITY in Ukraine is the site of the Chernobyl Meltdown Site.....Duh!!!

The movie had some positives: I like the setting (ie the abandoned Chernobyl city), a few of the scenes are creepy, and the movie is shot in a grainy manner that works well.

The biggest problem, by far, is that characters are not likable. On the contrary, the characters get so annoying because they just keep arguing and bickering with each non stop. By the time I reached the 40-minute mark, I was ready to turn this movie off because the characters were getting under my skin.

I have never wanted everyone in a horror movie, to be killed off after the first 20 mins of watching, just so they would shut the hell up. I actually feel bad for the cast, because now when anyone sees them in anything else, they will be remembered as the completely annoying people from this terrible movie =(

This is bad. Terrible acting, stupid premise... there is no way people can "accidentally wander" anywhere near the exclusion zone. "Kate" is so bloody annoying I was hoping something would happen to her, but I couldn't sit through the crapfest long enough to find out.