''Black Serenade'' ( es, Tuno negro, links=no) is a 2001 Spanish

slasher film A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a ...

directed and written by Pedro L. Barbero and Vicente J. Martín about a serial killer who, dressed with a tuno cape and a mask, kills underperforming university students.

Plot

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

infiltrates in the

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

of the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is th ...

and uses the confusion of the night parties to kill lousy students deemed unworthy of receiving a university education. Two cops are tasked with discovering the real identity of the killer.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by

Andrés Vicente Gómez Andrés Vicente Gómez (Madrid, 16 September 1943) is a Spanish film producer, head of Lolafilms, with more than 100 films to his credit. Career Gómez is the winner of an Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Language film for ''Belle Époque'' ...

for Iberoamericana Films, Lolafilms and

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially launc ...

, and it had the participation of Vía Digital. Filming began on 14 August 2000. Shooting locations included

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municipalities ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Release

The film was theatrically released on 20 July 2001.

Critical reception

Critical reviews of the movie were quite bad. Agusto M. Torres wrote in ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' that there are "irregularities in the development of history" and that "the villain is the most difficult to figure out and lacks any kind of reason, moral or psychological, to be a serial murderer" but he also indicates that it has an "effective and fine humor". Jonathan Holland of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote that the "enjoyably tongue-in-cheek schlock-horror piece sticks too closely to the rules, with most of its chills and tingles too predictable for the teen auds it is aimed at". Carlos Aguilar in his ''Guía del cine español'' describes the movie as "incoherent and forced" but better than other contemporary Spanish slasher films such as ''

El arte de morir EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...

'' or '' School Killer''.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0268711, title=Tuno negro 2001 films 2000s Spanish-language films Spanish slasher films 2000s slasher films 2001 horror films Films set in Castile and León Films shot in the province of Salamanca Films shot in the Community of Madrid LolaFilms films 2000s Spanish films