Director Rigoberto Casteneda's horror thiller was a box office smash hit in his native Mexico. 'Smash hit' is an uncanny pun as the story is all about a ghostly highway where, at the road-measure point of Kilometre 31, a demonic young boy darts out in front of cars, causing them to veer across the highway and crash.

In an arresting beginning, twin sisters Agata and Catalina become parted when one of Agata falls foul of this young boy, ending up in an horrendous smash that leaves her in a coma in an eerie local hospital.

Her sister Catalina must solve the mystery of this ghostly boy in order to free Agata from the coma.

KM 31 involves mysterious local legends and malignant spirits trapped in time that cause evil. With echoes of The Others, director Rigoberto Casteneda's film is particularly good in the first hour thriving off suspense and unexplained horrors.

The second half of the film doesn't quite live up to the brilliance of the first, but this is still a reasonable attempt to revive a horror legend and give it a modern revamp with a hint of Latin American spice. Iliana Fox deserves credit for playing the roles of both sisters so well that they seem to be played by two different actresses.