A stock horror movie setup and a real-life tragedy from twenty-six years ago merge in anxiety-inspiring ways in "Chernobyl Diaries," a thoroughly frightening study in how to do a tried-and-true formula proud. Bradley Parker, a special effects supervisor on films such as 2010's "Let Me In," makes his taut directorial debut under the tutelage of one Mr. Oren Peli, the creator of 2009's "Paranormal Activity" who produces and, along with Carey Van Dyke & Shane Van Dyke, writes here. Favoring old-fashioned suspense and a creeping sense of danger that finally bubbles over in the home stretch, Parker crafts a genre piece that is only graphically violent when the narrative calls for it (not often), and willing to leave the major threat in the obscure shadows. Indeed, what the viewer's imagination ratchets up is probably far scarier than what the makers could actualize on the screen.

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