Make your housework, drive to work or long car trip more interesting! The Chernobyl Diaries hit DVD and Blu-Ray this past Tuesday, and to mark the occasion Dark Discussions co-hosts Mike and Phil invited me to come on their show and discuss the film. Listen to the episode or download it to your device here: http://www.darkdiscussions.com/Pages/podcast_076.html

From the Dark Discussions website:

“On April 26th, 1986, near Pripyat, Ukraine, a human error occurred which caused the Chernobyl nuclear power plant #4 to explode and release radiation into the atmosphere. At the time it was classified as the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. The area was afterwards considered uninhabitable. Today, years later, nature has reclaimed the area where plants and animals now live as if it were the wilderness.

Oren Peli, the creator of the Paranormal Activity film franchise, wrote and produced the 2012 film entitled Chernobyl Diaries. The film includes such up-and-coming stars as Olivia Taylor Dudley and Devin Kelley as well as being directed by visual effects expert Bradley Parker who has worked on such films as Fight Club and Let Me In. In the film Chernobyl Diaries, a group of six foreign tourists are taken to Pripyat on what the tour guide calls an extreme tour to see the site firsthand decades later and learn the history about the disaster. However, our guide and group of six tourists are suddenly left stranded when their vehicle appears sabotaged.

The film was just released for home theaters. Dark Discussions co-hosts Mike and Phil are joined by special guest Kristi Petersen Schoonover to discuss this horror film and the history behind Chernobyl and the Cold War. Other topics include the use of tragedy as a backdrop for both historical and exploitation film; radiation and nuclear power; the failure of the film at the box office; and how remarkably the film portrays atmosphere.”