KM 31 - Der Tod wartet bei Kilometer 31

After the death of their mother when they were children,twins Agata and Catalina develop a psychic skill allowing them to communicate over great distances.But Agata falls into a coma after an accident on kilometer 31 and Catalina experiences all her pain.Tormented by Agata's psychic screams for help,Catalina sets out to find what really happened to Agata and finds that her twin has fallen victim of the ancient and terrifying curse of La Llorona,the screaming woman.The main problem of "Km 31" is that the film is heavily americanized.Sure,it utilizes some old-school Mexican folklore tales as the back-story,but the filmmakers just don't do enough with it.The acting is solid,the film is beautifully made and some moments are mildly creepy,but horror fans expecting something gruesome should really give this one a pass.

Quite an interesting film; quite dark with some nice special effects; although nothing ground-breaking. It's pretty gory in places so it's definitely not one for the squeamish. All the performances were very good, although I'll put my usual caveat that it's sometimes quite hard to judge a performance in a foreign language. I thought Iliana Fox stood out as the most praiseworthy though. The film does, however, fall a little into cliché here an there; it must be hard to find new ways to scare people these days. It just about have enough 'creep-factor' though to keep me interested, so it's not all bad. Over all, worth a look if you're a horror fan; otherwise, I'd probably give it a miss. Personally, I pretty much enjoyed it.

SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 6.2/10

You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

In this Mexican horror flick a young woman (Iliana Fox) telepathically feels that something is wrong with her twin sister (also played by Iliana Fox) but what she doesn't know is that she just hit a boy with her car on kilometer 31 and after she got out to see if the boy was alive she also got hit by a car. The young woman somehow find the injured sister on the road and calls paramedics who bring her to the hospital. Shortly after that our protagonist goes back to kilometer 31 together with her boyfriend (Adrià Collado) and her twin sisters friend (Raúl Méndez). Soon they realize that there have been supernatural accidents in the past on this exact kilometer.

The whole story really reminded me of Japanese horror and the whole style with its visuals also was definitely inspired by J-Horror which is not necessarily a bad thing. However where the movie lacks is some pacing issues which really creates some boring scenes and also there are quite a few plot holes which further distract from the story. But the movie can also shine with some nice visuals towards the end and a conclusion that I personally really liked. Overall it's a decent firm but not very memorable. [5,2/10]

While driving through the kilometer 31 of a lonely road, Agata Hameran (Iliana Fox) hits a boy. She leaves her car to help the victim and another car runs over her and she falls in a deep coma. Her twin sister Catalina (Iliana Fox) telepathically feels the pain of Agata and hears her whispering for help. Together with her boyfriend Nuno (Adrià Collado) and Agata's mate Omar (Raúl Méndez), they return to the km 31 of the road, and find out that the place is surrounded by supernatural accidents caused by the ghost of a mother that lost her boy many years ago. Further, Catalina discloses that the spirit of Agata is trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead.

"Km 31" is an intriguing ghost story, with good performances, a dark cinematography and great special effects. Unfortunately, the messy screenplay spoils the conclusion of the plot of this promising and refreshing film. Like many others horror movies, the author and the director were not able to give a suitable resolution to the plot and I was absolutely frustrated with the awful ending. Anyway I do not dare to write that "Km 31" is a bad movie, but it could be better and better with improvements and better conclusion. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Km 31"

I believe this was my first experience with Mexican horror! Glad to add Mexico to my list of Horror contributors :) As a horror freak, I like to be exposed to all sorts and kinds of origins!

KM 31 is an intriguing collaboration of classic ghost-stories and the semi-supernatural bond between twins (two aspects that are commonly found in horror films). The entire spectrum of human emotions is portrayed in scenes that deliver fine acting and clever screen writing. The use of audio effects was also well done (when the film ended, I was really tired and went to sleep... at a certain point my cat climbed on the keyboard and the film restarted, and I awoke in terror to the bone chilling sound of Catelina's opening speech...)

There were, as in most ghost stories, some "cheats" (i.e. sudden movements in the distance with loud bass music), that these weren't overused, nor were they the main reason for the film's frightening ambiance. The ghost was very well made in my opinion, creepy and unnerving just as a ghost should be! In my opinion, the way a ghost looks/sounds/moves/behaves says a lot about a ghost-film. Another point for Mexican film making!

All in all, I can't say this was the best ghost film I've seen, but it followed through on everything it should have, and in a non- disappointing way. Recommended!