REVIEW: TUNO NEGRO aka BLACK SERENADE (2001)
TUNO NEGRO aka BLACK SERENADE is a Spanish slasher directed and written by Pedro L. Barbero and Vicente J. Martín in 2001.
Some students from Salamanca university are being killed by a black-masked tuno -Spanish university musician. Soon, one of the students – Alex (Silke)- discovers there is a pattern in the killings as the psycho killer strikes regularly after the exams to free the campus from cheater students.
The main stars were the ones on top those years: Silke, Jorge Sanz, and Fele Martínez. A cast made to attract all youngsters then. A pity the movie was not as good as expected.
TUNO NEGRO follows a path in Spanish horror cinema full of slashers attempts and tacky killers as it happened in The Art of Dying or School Killer. Those movies tried to copy the Hollywood serial killer flicks but with no money, no creativeness, or talent, so the result on the screen and also at the ticket office was disastrous.
Tunos and their mischievous behavior were already old-fashioned and embarrassing then, so the starting point lacks some interest. Also, the story is weak, it is full of stupid jokes and there is no mystery to keep you awake. Ok, it is true that killer discovery is really surprising but the explanation to the whole story and its construction has no sense at all.
The title TUNO NEGRO was accompanied by the Latin tagline Nescientia necat, meaning ignorance kills, but it was boredom and tackiness too.
It was released on DVD time ago – I don’t think it may be available anywhere- but it can be seen on some Spanish VOD sites. If you are a horror aficionado you may find this no brilliant but funny at least.
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Elena Anele is the woman in charge of SPANISHFEAR.COM, Horror Rises from Spain, and Un Fan de Paul Naschy. A literature and cinema researcher, finishing her postgraduate studies with a thesis about the mystic filmmaker José Val del Omar. She has published in different media and books as Fangoria or Hidden Horror. She has also been in charge of several translations including Javier Trujillo’s complete works, La Mano Film Fest, The Man who Saw Frankenstein Cry and many more.
