Tuno negro

This movie was recommended to me by the owner of a videorent-shop in Córdoba, Spain, saying it was a good thiller. Unfortunately, there was no real suspense here, I could only laugh about the "horrifying" scenes. Killing scenes for example were very implausible, exaggerated and absurd, it spoilt the whole movie for me. Though the scenery was very beautiful (University of Salamanca for example), I was very disappointed by this Scream/I Know What You Did Last Summer clone... My advise: watch on TV is you´re really bored.

Well, supposedly spanish filmmakers are trying to avoid the "american" way of making films, well I guess they missed the point here. Because this film follows exactly all the elements that make american horror films what they are, one minute thrills with some exceptions. The film is rather predictable, the dialogue is awfully ridiculous,but the sex scene was somewhat interesting. The acting on the other hand was not that bad, Fele Martinez once again shows that he is one of the best young actors working in Spain these days, and even though he looks too old for being in college Jorge Sanz does a good job also. The soundtrack of the film is one of the few good elements the film has, and well...the last 15 minutes of the film are flooded by certain touch of dark humor that brings up all that was lost by the first one hour and a half. At the end, what I have to say about Tuno Negro is that, is totally forgettable, but you might as well have a not so bad time if you go see it. It´s up to you.

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.

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!

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.