Tuno negro

Very good Spanish slasher movie, with an interesting and darkly humorous idea (a slashing minstrel going from one university to another each year, killing the worst students, cutting the bad seeds of society).

Only slightly different from his american models (the plethora of college slashing films), Tuno negro is a very good addiction to the genre, with several good death scenes, many talented actors and actresses (the lead cutie is a sort of Spanish clone of Katie Beckinsale), good musical score. All in all, a good way to spend 100 minutes, far better than many of his similar from the States.

Entertaining but middling ¨Spanish Slasher¨ in which a series killer executes a crime spree at Salamanca University . Students of the university of Salamanca are brutally murdered by a black masked minstrel nicknamed ¨Tuno Negro¨ . As a psychopathic killer infiltrates in the "University Tuna" of Salamanca and chooses his victims via the internet . Alex (Silke) , an architecture student who has recently moved to Salamanca discovers a pattern behind the killings ; it seems as if the murderer strikes regularly after the exams to free the campus from worse students . Relying on the night and the students spree (Jorge Sanz , Patxi Freytez , Sergio Pazos , Javier Veiga) , the "Tuno Negro" commits murders with a simple pattern , as he kills the worst students in each class . The lousy student does not end the course , nor will have the option to repeat it . As murderous tells the following : Nescientia Necat (it is Latin and means "Ignorance kills") . Meanwhile , two police inspectors (Fele Martínez , Enrique Villen) are investigating the weird killings and a strange professor (Eusebio Poncela) discovers an ancient legend from XVI Century dealing with the ¨Tunos Negros¨ who were executed by burning pole .

This exciting , bizarre film contains tension , thriller, drama , mystery , plot twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense terror sequences especially in its final part , in a creepy outcome and including strong sexual scenes between Silke and Fele Martínez . The picture is thrilling and some moment brilliant, but the players are quite mediocre , being plagued by average acting . In addition, the star players at 30 years old , impersonating university students , something that is not believable . The script could have been written a little more credible , especially in the final , in which the disproportion of the situations cause hilarity and little surprise at the ability to overcome the ultimate denouement . Known main actors formed by a Spanish-all-star-cast such as Jorge Sanz , Silke and Fele Martínez give regular performances . Being supported by fine secondary actors such as Enrique Villen as a hardened detective who takes on the case , Eusebio Poncela , Francisco Maestre , Aitor Mazo and Paca Gabaldon , among others . Maribel Verdú only appears in the opening scene, and then the murderer kills her in the first minute of reel . It is almost a fraud , as it would probably has served to include her in the advertisement of the movie . Creepy movie builds taut by showing virtually well staged killings , adequate settings , unsettling score and evocative cinematography . Although is sometimes slow moving , overlong and stagy , however is entertaining for continuous suspense . As trivia I add the followings : when they attempt to save an Universitary girl, Silke passes in front of a cinema which is showing ¨La Niña de Tus Ojos¨ or ¨The girl of your dreams¨(1998), a film starring 'Jorge Sanz , being also produced by Andres Vicente Gomez , and the film is watching Sergio Pazos when is attacked by the killer results to be "Killer Tongue" or ¨Lengua Asesina¨ by Albert Sciamma . Sinister , mysterious atmosphere is nicely photographed by magnificent cameraman Carlos Suarez , and standing out colors with luxurious images . As he photographs splendidly , being highlighting the beauty of Alcala Henares and Salamanca especially, and its marvelous university and cathedral . Suspenseful and frightening soundtrack by Roque Baños heightens the suspense .

This motion picture displaying genuine chills , suspense, dark atmosphere and a twisted finale , being middlingly proceeded by Pedro Barbero and Vicente Martin and turned out to one of the most popular Spanish thrilling movies of the 2.000s and certainly one of the most amusing . By that time , there have been realized several Spanish ¨Slashers¨ imitating to ¨Scream¨ saga , including a lot of young people being murdered , such as : ¨School killer¨ by Carlos Gil with Jacinto Molina , Carlos Fuentes , Zoe Berriatúa , Olivia Molina , ¨El Arte de Morir¨ by Alvaro Fernández Armero with Gustavo Salmeron , Lucia Jimenez and Fele Martínez , ¨Mas De 100 Camaras Velan Por Seguridad¨ by David Alonso with Antonio Hortelano , Laura Manzanedo , Monica Starreado , and ¨No Debes Estar Aquí¨ by Jacobo Rispa with Tristan Ulloa and Pablo Echarri .

I´m been living in Spain about 6 month´s and I was trying to whatch some new spanish films to catch the ways of this industries. I watched ¨Tuno Negro¨ last friday and I was disapointed. It was really awful, totally dumb script and the acting was hard as a rock. This film is trying to be like all the american Teen slasher films but just can´t get it. Is not like those films are great, most of the are really bad (only ¨Scream¨ is a good movie in that bunch) but this one is even worst. Worst than ¨Cherry Falls¨ and ¨I still know what you did last summer¨. They are a lot of plot holes and thing that you wont understand and the ending is so stupid that you will think that is a final joke. They are only 2 thing that I have pitty of this movie. One of those thing is Fele Martinez, one of Amenabar´s favorite actor´s who is really good in movies like ¨Tesis¨ and ¨Abre los ojos¨ but here is the carachter is so underwrited that he can only soy the lines in a dumb way. The other thing that could be good but it is not it was Eusebio Poncela, another great actor who was espectacular in ¨Martin (hache)¨ but here it have the same problems of Martinez. Really a pitty

What a disappointing film! What called my attention to this movie was its plot's main idea (a killer inside a University campus covered by the background context of "Tunas" – an academic celebration which exist in some Latin countries like Spain, Portugal and others from South America). It made me remind a Portuguese film I had watch some years ago called RASGANÇO which had the same plot topic (curiously both movies were produced in 2001!...). As I did like that film and I usually appreciate Spanish cinema too, I decided to give TUNO NEGRO a chance! I regret now! It has nothing to do with what I expected or even to the Portuguese movie I had watch before (except the plot main topic which is the same). While RASGANÇO is quite realistic, having a very "possible to happen" plot and demonstrating how really works the "Praxe" and the "Tunas" concept here in Portugal; TUNO NEGRO is a thriller around the "Tuno Negro" tale, made up with clear Hollywood standards (it follows the typical Hollywood teen slasher, like SCREAM or I KNOW WHAT YOU LAST SUMMER), but ends being just an Hollywood wannabe Spanish little film… It uses the same kind of suspense, chilling, characters, twists, plot's construction, etc; but all in a ripen-off style…quite pathetic isn't it?

I wouldn't even need to mention that comparing both movies I would definitely choose RASGANÇO because it's much more interesting, realistic and doesn't need any rip-off to produce a plot about a serial-killer that commits his crimes covered by the academic context…

TUNO NEGRO was really a disappointment, especially because of the Hollywood wannabe feature! I score it 2/10!

Like `El arte de Morir', this is a Spanish example of the teen slasher pic, that has some original ideas, but isn't as good as the efforts of other Spanish directors in horror film making, like Amenabar's `Tesis', de la Iglesia's `Dia de la bestia' or del Toro's marvelous `Devil's Backbone'. Still it is a lot better than the boring and predictable `I know what you did last summer', which had nothing, absolutely nothing new or inventive to it. The story tells of a secret society of serenade singers, and, guess what, lots of students are being killed. One of the highlights of `Tuno Negro' is the impressive setting at the university of Salamanca, a location that gives the film a slightly Gothic touch. Then there's the female lead: an interesting divergence from the usually dull well-behaved heroines in Slasher flicks; I liked Silke's acting a lot, although the version I've seen has been dubbed into German; can't say nothing about her original way of speaking that got criticized below. This is certainly not a masterpiece, but it's quite entertaining; I've seen much worse than that.