On this episode, we tackle the Ariel Award-winning Spanish-language film, Kilometro 31!
This film showed up on our radar a couple of years after its initial Mexican release. We saw it sometime around 2008 or 2009, and were impressed by its visual style. When we moved to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas last year, we knew this was a film worthy of a revisit.
The story centers around a pair of twin sisters, Catalina and Agata. Nearly killed after a freak traffic accident, Agata is confined to the hospital in a coma. Fearing that her sister’s soul is trapped in limbo, Catalina investigates the strange occurrences along the stretch of road around the Km31 marker. What she and her friends find leaves them all a bit shaken, to say the least.
Km31 functions as a hodgepodge of several ideas, ranging from a psychic twins story to traditional Mexican folklore. The characters themselves are interesting enough, but the plot gets a little muddled with all that’s going on. However, director Rigoberto Castañeda (also known for his film Blackout) has a good handle on ambiance, and this film does have some very creepy moments.
Upon release in 2006, Km31 was the first mainstream horror picture to come out of Mexico since Guillermo del Toro made Cronos in 1992. Distributed by Spanish company Filmax, the film was a total success in Mexico, grossing almost three times its estimated budget of 2 million Euros. Because of its popularity, a sequel (or segundo parte) is in the works. The new film is also under the direction of Castañeda. Km31 Sin Retorno is slated for release in Mexico in late September 2016. We’re hoping that it may make its way a few miles across the border as well.
This episode includes a featurette telling the story of the Southwest’s most famous ghost, La Llorona.
Click below to hear our take on Km31! While you’re at it, subscribe on iTunes (or your favorite podcast app), and leave us a rating or review. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter!
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