KM31 : Kilometre 31 (2006) Horror Ghost

KM 31 : Kilometre 31 (2006) - "KM 31: Kilómetro 31" (original title) This is strange film right from the start with its eerie music and effeciency in getting the story going. A women Agata (Iliana Fox) after an argument with her boyfriend Omar (Raúl Méndez) is driving to stay with her twin sister Catalina (also played by Fox) in the mountains of Mexico. At the kilometre mark 31 she hits a small boy who runs into the road. She screeches to a halt and gets out of her car to check on the child laying in the road. When she walks up to check the child is a transformed specter, a ghost child that causes her to recoil, right into the path of a truck coming up the hill. She goes under the truck a mangled mess. Her sister not far from the site of the accident goes into a convulsion and sees with that special twin connection ability that her sister has been hurt. She rushes off to save her. This is just the set up and only after her Agata has had her legs amputated and is laying in a coma do we start the meat of the story. She is trapped between life and death. Catalina must solve the mystery of the ghost child so save her. The bigger mystery of that marker on the highway looms for her and with the help of Omar and her own boyfriend Nuno (Adrià Collado) she will try to find the secret of the child ghost and save her sister.
 The horror themed music by Carles Cases frames the supernatural mood perfectly. Having worked on some other well scored films, like The Nameless (1999), Dagon (2001) and Darkness (2002) Cases knows how to set a mood. The music and sound design add to the creepy feel of this film, giving the viewer chills at the right times. It helps in the creepy factor of this film which does have a very creepy mood most the way through. Writer / Director Rigoberto Castañeda does a very nice job creating a world that crosses from real to spirit world and back again mixing the fantasy with the events of the characters to create a strange and scary film. The "La Llorona" style plot points are a bit strained at times but in the end we have a dark and chilling film.
  There is a sequel to this film planned for this year, it should be interesting to see what will be done with the material a full nine years after the original. Iliana Fox will be back to raise her parts of Agata and Catalina from the grave and the director is on board but considering the ending I wonder where the story goes after its somewhat final ending.
  Overall this is a decent film with a haunted stretch of highway that has cause many deaths as we learn from the obsessed cop Ugalde (Carlos Aragón) then why is this not a very publicly known phenomena. The real plot hole in the film has to do with the location. When Agata is struck at Kilometre 31 Catalina runs downs the street to the location. So that means she lives on the route not far from the accident scene. So how does she not know about the haunting, or at least all the accidents and deaths at that location. Considering it is the route between her home and Mexico City how is it that she has not had a strange experience or eight. Once the plot delves in the trouble seems to happen every few nights.

  I liked the blurring of reality where the ghost world is merged in at times and the plot twist is one that is dark enough to hold attention. The director does a good job with some interesting visuals to enhance the effects. Particularly in the climax enhancing Nuno's hallucinations with background visuals that help separate his perceived reality from the actual setting he is in.  The ending is more than expected and for this viewer going with the expected route was enjoyable. This is not strongly recommended because the story could have been a lot cleaner. Some themes about Omar, Catalina, Agata and Nuno relationships were touched upon but some of the drama from those ideas were blunted by the ghost plot before fully being explored. Still I would recommend this film as a solid ghost story.