11 series and movies about the 'Chernobyl' disaster to see if you liked HBO's success

11 series and movies about the 'Chernobyl' disaster to see if you liked HBO's success. 


The 'Chernobyl' series, created by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck for HBO and Sky UK, brought the story of the catastrophic reactor explosion to the highest marks of an IMDB web television series. 

Now, a year later, the interest and fascination with this historical vision continues to generate impact and comments on networks.

But it was not the only series or movie to have dealt with the disaster in any way. The European trauma of the explosion can be followed even in science fiction series like 'Dark' (2017-2020) and the accident has been present in fiction from the 80s to today, although it has been treated from very different angles and perspectives. 

From horror movies to found footage, to the aftermath of legendary action film titles, to harsh reflections on the consequences for the population, 'Chernobyl' is present in these fictions.

Kolokol Chernobylya (1987)


This fim directed by Rollan Sergienko is the first documentary to be shown after the disaster. 

Filmed a month later, it focuses mainly on the human side of Chernobyl and tells about the heroic work of the workers and the most immediate consequences of the accident. 

Many of those who appear participated in the events first hand. The quality of the filmed material is rough and rudimentary, but it makes even more impression and sense of reality when you know that the cause is the radiation itself.

Volki v zone (1990)

This forgotten Soviet film treats the nuclear disaster as a detective story. Using a rough translation of "wolves in the area".

He recounts how the gated exclusion area filled with hordes of looters searching for abandoned personal property, appliances, or jewelry without local authorities or the police doing anything to prevent it, except the "Serpico" of the area, a former police captain named Rodionov who stands as the only one who tries to avoid chaos.

Raspad (1990)

Directed by Mykhailo Belikov, it is a tough and raging movie that has a lot to tell beyond the nuclear disaster. 

Through the stories of a journalist and his unfaithful wife, a couple of newlyweds, a lost little boy, and other characters, he portrays a harsh world in which happy marriages, loyalty, technology, and government are a facade that it hides falsehood and misery. 

A whole epic odyssey verges on science fiction that uses the 1986 Chernobyl events as a metaphor for moral decline in the Soviet Union.

Chernobyl: The Final Warning (1991)

In the closing days of the Cold War in and a weakened Soviet Union, a television company decided to make a film about what brought them to that destination. This Russian-British-American co-production: It's almost a TV rehearsal of HBO's 'Chernobyl' series. 

In his 90 minutes he elaborates a detailed chronology of events, although he directs his gaze to the activity of the American and British doctors who helped the wounded based on the real memories of Dr. Robert Peter Gale. 

It stars John Voight and Jason Robards .

Land of Oblivion (2011)

Franco-Ukrainian drama focused on the Anya tragedy, played by Olga Kurilenko, who becomes a widow on her wedding day, April 26, 1986, the day the fourth reactor exploded in Chernobyl. 

The film focuses on her struggle to continue living, showing the saddest side of the nuclear tragedy. 

Some of her scenes were filmed in the exclusion zone under the close watch of the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations, and her story can be seen in one of the subplots of the HBO series.

Innocent Saturday (V Subbotu, 2011)

A drama, directed by Aleksandr Mindadze, set in April 1986, while official reports of the disaster have been withheld and residents of neighboring cities lead normal lives while breathing radioactive air. 

The Chernobyl disaster is told from the perspective of Valery Kabysh, a faithful party official, who tries to leave town, reflecting the carefree environment without showing the consequences we already know. Spooky and critical of the authorities' management.

Trapped in Chernobyl (Chernobyl Diaries, 2012)

Directed by Brad Parker, this horror found footage film follows six young people who decide to tour the city of Pripyat. 

After a brief exploration of the deserted city the group discovers that they are not alone. 

Blood, crying, monsters and horrible military experiments in which it is not an especially bad sample of this type of cinema, but that caused a reaction of charities related to children of Chernobyl for their lack of tact, despite the fact that, seeing the irresponsible influencer tourism that sparked the series, works as a visionary spur against the stupidity of visitors.

Inseparable (2013)

In this Ukrainian miniseries we follow the love story of Pasha and Alya, who meet in Pripyat just on the eve of the catastrophe. 

From the melancholic portrait of two teenagers who have no idea what nightmare they must go through in the story of loss, courage and stoicism in the face of unbeatable conditions, love and death are unleashed in the middle of the epicenter of the explosion, which caused it to be received with very good reviews. Maybe the perfect human complement to 'Chernobyl'.

The jungle: A good day to die (A Good Day to Die Hard, 2013)

The fifth installment in the John McClane saga is unworthy of the title of the McTiernan film, but it is not without curiosity for its strange plot, which placed Bruce Willis first in Moscow and then at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where he ended up. 

With an army of villains and flee from enemy fire from Russian combat helicopters.

Chernobyl: otchuzhdeniya zone (2014-2019)

One of the craziest TV series anyone has ever seen, an impossible mix of genres starts out as the typical teen product but ends up playing mystery, science fiction, fantasy, drama, suspense, road movie, action, disaster and terro. 

Five Muscovites in search of a thief who stole all their money and flees to Pripyat, finding there strange beings, infected dogs, ghosts and even end up traveling back in time to alternative realities like the US after suffering a similar nuclear disaster to Chernobyl at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. An absolute bizarre one.

Chernobyl: Abyss (Kogda padali aisty, 2020)

In Russia, the view of the nuclear catastrophe by the HBO series, which was described by Kremlin-related media, as "historical fraud" did not sit well, so they made their own version and the result is the feature film 'Chernobyl: Abyss' whose trailer we presented a few weeks ago and that will follow three protagonists; a firefighter, an engineer and a military diver who will try to contain the radiation while " descending into hell itself to prevent what could be the most terrifying result of the catastrophe ." It opens on October 8, 2020.

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