La Brecha - The Devil's Clock (2006) Horror

La Brecha - The Devil's Clock (2006) - Following along the lines of the last review Farmhouse is La Brecha, a ultra low budget production from Mexico where a quartet of 20 somethings who get lost on the way to the ocean and end up in a quiet village that is not quite what is seems. This particular picture is so off the map that it currently does not even show up on the greatest collection place for movie information, IMDB. In fact finding out production information for this film was a bit difficult pretty much the DVD cover or if you see it through Netflix (mail) will you have any real information. The beginning of the film shows a family running through a green filtered forest, so it must be night. The little girl of the family keeps falling and eventually the parents leave her behind. A creature grabs her and crushes her head, but if you think you are going to see gore think again, this is such a low budget venture that a quick flash and everything is gone. It is the next day and the father from the group is seen walking in the hot Mexican sun with bloody hands. He attempts to flag a car down but it runs him over. This is the set up for the film, but unfortunately it is not the set up for the film. In fact it has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie all it is for is to introduce the idea of a pursuing creature that in the scene you only see.
After this start we meet our couples Joselo (Antonio Aguirre) and Karina (Anna Cepinska), and Mariana (Suzet Villalobos) and Daniel (Victor Hernandez). They are heading off together to go to the ocean for a weekend. They unfortunately get lost and end up tired and irritated with each other, so decide to stop in a small pueblo for the night. To their surprise the place seems totally deserted, except for one strange guy named Nicolas (Alejandro Camacho). There is a cool little effect that is used by director Jose Carlos Gutierrez to give the impression that he is of supernatural origin. He tells them of the legend of the curse town clock. It is always stuck at 12 o'clock but if the time changes it is telling the time when someone will die. It all has to do with the clock maker's suicide but really it is just a plot device to have a story to tell. Really all this movie is, is this really bad premise. There seems to be no character development other than revealing bad behavior of three of the four character with Mariana really not being a bad person.
Writers Jose Carlos Gutierrez and Josue Hermes do a somewhat poor job not thinking through his concept before getting to shooting. I am naming them writers even though information on this film is sketchy so I apologize if I get anything wrong. Sure the characters have their flaws and have done questionable things. Joselo and Daniel are actually going to the beach not just for a vacation but because they have stolen money together and want to be away from the heat of their crime. Daniel and Karina have been having sexual relations since Christmas even though Daniel is with Mariana and Karina is with Joselo. Poor Mariana seems to get the lousy end of the deal as she sees Daniel as the love of her life.
Eventually our character see the clock change times and then each has a turn dying or getting sick or being to tired to get out of bed, it is all not so clear, finally though the last character talks with Nicolas and we learn that this village is not so different than the farmhouse in the film Farmhouse. It is less than satisfying and the whole experience is probably better off avoided. The experience of watching this film of course.
Notes on actors: Alejandro Camacho seems to be a hard working actor in Mexican television and is currently on the television series Para Volver a Amar, of the actors in the film he seem the most skilled and it is probably not surprising the oldest.
Anna Cepinska is probably more famous for being a Miss Venezuela and Miss World before doing a spread she did in the Venezuelan version of Playboy magazine in April 2008 than for anything else. So in this end this is just not a passable film, not enough is done although it is not without value.
Rating (3.1) 5.0 and up are recommended in the Zombiegrrlz system Skip It!