10 Most Terrifying Moments From HBO's Chernobyl
There was nothing sane about Chernobyl, but there was plenty that was terrifying.
Chernobyl was a truly terrifying miniseries, and the fact that it all happened to poor souls in real life makes it all the worse. While it was white-knuckled fear-inducing at times, it was also strangely compelling and savagely beautiful, focussing on the very human story at the heart of the tragedy.
There were some wonderfully touching and despairing moments in the series too, as it created a startlingly well-rounded picture of the emotional fallout as well as the literal, radioactive fallout raining down on Chernobyl. A more complete show you could not have.
Here though, we look at the most terrifying aspects of the show. There’s body horror, slow creeper moments and sudden jolts of panic, which were mixed in with the softer character moments that made the series so affecting.
It’s currently the number one ranked show on IMDb, and you’d be hard pressed to think of a show which has done more in such a short space of time. It’s a steep accolade, but one Chernobyl has earned.
Chernobyl was absolutely heart-stopping at times, and no more so than these ten brilliantly dramatic moments.
10. The Bridge Of Death
This a little bit of an outlier on the list, as it’s the only entry which requires a little bit of wider knowledge of Chernobyl to be truly terrifying.
The series does a wonderful job of maintaining factual accuracy while still telling a gripping story that doesn’t exclude those with no knowledge of the accident apart from Chernobyl’s infamous name. However, with the frankly absurd amount of detail and total coverage explored in just five episodes, there are some little flourishes which require a bit of prior knowledge.
In the opening episode, the townspeople see the tower alight and gather on a nearby bridge to watch the blaze. The noxious yellow glow is oddly beautiful against the black sky, and it seems like this scene is there to show the naivety of the citizens, and our obsession as a species for observing destruction.
Lyudmilla is invited, but declines, as her husband is fighting the fire and doesn’t want to worry herself. This decision saves her life; the nuclear radiation on the bridge was so strong that everyone gathered there died from the poison in the months after.
It became known as the Bridge Of Death.