''Black Serenade'' () is a 2001 Spanish

slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...

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 (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

infiltrates in the

tuna A tuna (: tunas or 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 bul ...

of the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

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 (born 16 September 1943 in Madrid) 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 � ...

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 laun ...

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

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

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 (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. 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 . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' 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 Carlos Aguilar (born May 25, 1988) is an American soccer player who is currently an assistant coach at San Diego State University. Career College and amateur Carlos attended Palmdale High School played two years of college soccer at Taft Co ...

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'' 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 Madrid LolaFilms films 2000s Spanish films Films shot in Alcalá de Henares Films about the education system in Spain