KM31

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Rating 2¾


Written and directed by Rigoberto Castañeda

Starring Iliana Fox, Adrià Collado, Raúl Méndez, Carlos Aragon and Luisa Huertas


Agata (Iliana Fox) knocks over a small boy at the KM31 mark on a lonely stretch of road outside Mexico City. While she is desperately phoning her boyfriend Omar (Raúl Méndez) on her mobile from the scene she is struck by another vehicle, resulting in horrific injuries that leave her in a coma. She shares a kind of telepathic link with her twin sister Catalina (also Iliana Fox), who becomes convinced Agata is crying out for help from within her unconscious state.

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‘KM31’ is supposedly based on a true story, according to the credits at the beginning of the film. It is based on the Hispanic legend of “La Llorona”, or the “Weeping Woman”, who is said to haunt rivers and streams and lure children to their deaths below the water.

The film is clearly heavily influenced by Japanese horror films, but it also has a Latin flavour. It is not entirely successful and tends to meander a little bit at various points. The antipathy shared between Omar and Catalina’s boyfriend Nuño (the Spanish actor Adrià Collado) seems to come out of nowhere and perhaps could have been dealt with in a more focused way. This might have provided the film with a bit more dramatic substance and perhaps helped to give us a greater understanding of the relationship between the two sisters. Equally, the strange attraction of KM31 that keeps drawing them back to that stretch of road is not as forcible as perhaps it should be. That said, the film is very atmospheric and has a strong sense of foreboding. The minimal use of music is very effective and the climactic scenes are very satisfying.

The film is flawed and the familiarity of its obvious influences means that it is has a slightly clichéd feel. However, I am sucker for ghost stories and this was a rather enjoyable one.

‘KM31’ has a 71% fresh rating from seven reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, although little can be gleaned from this, given the small number of reviews collected. It was apparently a big box office hit in Mexico. Total Film magazine described it as, “One of Mexico’s all-time box office hits,” although no figures are quoted to back up this claim.

Review posted 7 March 2009



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Películas para no dormir: Para entrar a vivir

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Rating 3


Directed by Jaume Balagueró

Written by Jaume Balagueró and Alberto Marini

Starring Macarena Gómez, Adrià Collado, Nuria González, Ruth Díaz and Roberto Romero


A young couple expecting a child go to see an affordable apartment situated in a dilapidated building in an outlying district of the city where they live. Once there, they find themselves trapped in a nightmarish and deadly scenario from which there seems to be no escape.

‘Películas para no dormir: Para entrar a vivir’ translates as ‘Films To Keep You Awake: To Let’. Made in 2006, this was one of six Spanish films based on a celebrated television series called ‘Historias para no dormir’ (‘Tales To Keep You Awake’), which was broadcast between 1966 and 1968 and briefly revived in 1982.

‘To Let’ is effective and excellently acted and bears some similarities to the Japanese horror film ‘Honogurai mizu no soko kara’ (‘Dark Water’). Although the stories told in these two films are actually quite different, the settings are similar.

The story here is, perhaps, a little overstretched and, as such, ends up being rather threadbare. The set-up and the opening scenes are excellent, but once Clara (Macarena Gómez) and Mario (Adrià Collado) become trapped in the old apartment building it does start to get rather drawn out, although a decent level of suspense is maintained. The film only has a running time of 68 minutes, but I cannot help but think it would have been possible to trim 10 or 15 minutes from this. Having said that, I think it is well worth a recommendation.

Director Jaume Balagueró, who has won no fewer than 27 awards at various European film festivals, also directed ‘Darkness’, a horror film set in the Catalan region of Spain and starring Anna Paquin.


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