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Codex Atanicus
Codex Atanicus is a three story anthology by Spanish director Carlos Atanes. Before watching the movie I never heard of the guy, but the introduction video on the DVD by one of his regular actresses Arantxa Peña made me realize that I'm in for a hell of a ride. Experimental, bizarre, sick, strange - these are some of the words that describe the stories contained in Codex Atanicus. The anthology is opened by a 20 minute short from 1995 called Metaminds & Metabodies. I am really not into this kind of experimental videos, but I will try to summarize. It opens with a girl singing in the club. Everything looks ultra underground and the girl is connected with some wires to the walls. Strange people are watching her...
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Movie Review: Km 31

Story
After the tragic death of their mother when they were children, twin sisters Agata and Catalina Hameran developed a special skill, a way of communicating without speaking, a link between them. After a mysterious accident on Kilometer 31, Agata falls into a coma. Catalina, thanks to their link, feels the pain and tragedy that her sister is going through at the time of the accident. Following a series of supernatural events, Catalina realizes that their link is stronger than ever and that her sister Agata is screaming for help from her unconscious state. Catalina is now determined to find out what really happened to her sister in order to help her wake up. Nuño, Agata's long time friend, and Omar, Catalina's boyfriend, agree to help her. But they soon find out that not only is Agata in a coma, but she is also trapped between reality and an ancient legend, the legend of La Llorona.

Comments
Since I hadn't seen a really good (new) horror flick for quite some time and since the last bunch of Spanish horrors that I've seen proved to be pretty great my expectations for KM 31 were, well, not really high but definitely there and I figured I was in for an interesting watch. Well this Mexican/Spanish film started off in a very good way and had a build-up that was intriguing, not to mention unsettling enough. But like with most films it unfortunately did not last all the way; the last 20 minutes or so were packed with CGI and CGI these days just makes me feel bad, really bad, at least when we're talking horror flicks.

But despite the CGI KM 31 is definitely not all that bad, it actually has lots going for it and like I mentioned earlier, the very build-up is excellent. It's even a bit freaky at times and halfway through I loved what I had playing before me on the screen. It's just too darn bad it didn't last all the way. The horror's definitely there and the good story creates both fear and tension, at least bits of it.

Km 31 Spanish Horror Movie Review Km 31 Spanish Horror Movie Review


The story is about Agata Hameran who hits a boy when driving through the kilometer 31 of a very lonely road. When she goes out to take a look at the boy she just hit, another car comes along and hits her leaving lying bleeding on the deserted road. Her sister Catalina senses that something has happened to her sister, (yeah I know it sounds dumb), and heads for the road to find that something did actually happen to her sister. Weird thing though is that the boy Agata hit is nowhere to be found. Together with her guy Nuno and Agata's boyfriend Omar, Catalina later returns to kilometer 31 to find out what really happened to her sister and what she finds is something supernatural...

Blood and gore fans beware, this is not one of those movies. But for people who appreciates a good dreadful story and unsettling psychology in their horror, this one may be of interest. I dug it for sure and the first hour or so was absolutely great. I hated the CGI at the end but overall I didn't hate the flick, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it either. If you get into the story of the film it will probably deliver a couple of scares, at least it'll deliver a chill down your spine somewhere along the way, only problem though is that the fear won't stick. When it comes to acting it's all top-notch and I prefer movies like this over Hollywood flicks any day of the week. The cinematography is excellent and the very film itself looks bleak, yet hauntingly beautiful. But as we all know, looks can be deceiving...

Final Comments
Awesome build-up, great cast, good story (at least 75 percent of it), and great cinematography/photography. Too darn bad it didn't last all the way though. But maybe you should give it a try despite of what I say huh, because who knows, you may end up finding it an excellent piece of film.

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Km 31

ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Kilómetro 31
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Rigoberto Castañeda
WRITING CREDITS: Rigoberto Castañeda
GENRE: Horror, Supernatural
CAST: Iliana Fox, Adrià Collado, Raúl Méndez
COUNTRY: Mexico, Spain
RUNTIME: 103 min

RATING: 6/10

Km 31 Website/IMDB Click here
Km 31 Trailer Click here

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