Black Serenade (2001)

A psychopathic killer selects his victims from the internet and begins preying on students at a university in Salamanca, Spain. The victims are selected based upon their grade point average-- eliminating failing students. Alex (Silke – Tierra), a new student who has just arrived in Salamanca, has discovered a pattern to the killings. When her new friends are discriminately murdered one after the other, she begins tracking the killer using her knowledge of art history to decipher the clues.

We may be smarter, but they out-number us.

As is constantly pointed out by reviewers of this movie, "Black Serenade" is Spain's answers to the post-modern American teenage horror movies that surfaced following the release of "Scream". It is true that this movie does borrow from these movies, at times I felt a strong feeling of deja vu while watching this film, but to say that this movie is a straight out rip-off of these movies would be incorrect and not doing this film justice.

Virtually every teenage horror movie that has been made since "Halloween" has followed the same format - a psychotic killer is on the loose and is preying on a group of promiscous teenagers in a small town - and "Black Serenade" is no exception. This time the killer is on the loose on a university campus and is preying on those students who are failing their exams. Yet, unlike in many of it's American counterparts, "Black Serenade" is not just about the senseless slaughter of young adults. The writer has also constructed an elaborate legend behind the killer and a series of puzzles that the characters and the viewer must solve.

If you think you've seen this film before, just because you've seen a lot of American horror film, then you're wrong. "Black Serenade" is a very good horror movie and will keep even the most seasoned of horror fans guessing. And for those out there who just want to see a bunch of teenagers getting killed. Well, "Black Serenade" does a pretty good job of showing that too.

January 13, 2008

"Ignorance kills": A True Double Entendre in this case!

BLACK SERENADE is Spain's contribution to the American obsession with teen horror flicks - such as SCREAM and the multiple sequels to that hokey film, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER + sequels, etc. Here we have a quasi-serious university terror story that has just enough sense to play as a parody on the genre to make it watchable!

Using the "new girl in a Catholic school" format, Alex (Silke Klein) enters her university first year accompanied by a computer for use in chat rooms (as opposed to dating men/minstrels about campus). One of the chat rooms happens to contain the symbol and voice of a Dark Minstrel, a legendary killer who stalks failing students and murders routinely around exam time.

Alex is surrounded by friends played by such fine actors as Fele Martinez, Jorge Sanz, Maribel Verdu, Eusebio Poncela, Paca Galbaldon, etc. - in other words some of Spain's finer young actors, and it is to their credit that their skills make this otherwise routine horror flick worth watching. There is enough suspense, bloody slashing, hanging corpses, and cathedral mystical scenes to keep the movie fast paced. And though the ending may not surprise all, it has a nice twist that makes for an ending that suggests sequels are in the offing.

If horror movies are your cup of tea, this Spanish version is not a bad entry. At least the actors in it are fine. Grady Harp December 29, 2004

In Spain, everyone can hear you SCREAM

DARK MINSTREL would probably be a better title for this 2001 Spanish flick (aka TUNO NEGRO) that does a pretty good job of mimicking American teen slasher movies and Italian giallos. Alex (played by Spanish sex symbol Silke Klein) is a new student at a University where pupils soon find themselves being brutally stabbed to death. The killer, who wears a minstrel outfit and labels himself the "Dark Minstrel," communicates with Alex through the Internet, leaving her clues as to who the next victims will be. Soon Alex and her pals discover that the killer has been moving from one university to the next, eliminating only the worst (ie. failing) students.

The murders are graphic and bloody, but far from believable or logical (at one point the killer offs a professor, which seems to contradict the killer's motives), so anyone expecting an intelligent and realistic thriller should pretty much throw those expectations out the window. Instead, BLACK SERENADE tries to be both serious AND tongue-and-cheek -- a jumbled mix of banal and wildly over-the-top elements that doesn't really mesh, but does provide for some stylish sequences. One of the murders (a burning) makes for a bravura visual setpiece and one scene in which a drugged-out character gets killed is shown in a gruesome but visually inventive manner.

Still, if this were an American movie it would be instantly forgettable. The plot is full of holes and obvious red herrings, the tone is all over the place, and the cast looks too old to be students. The film is redeemed somewhat by its attractive Spanish locations and the interesting plot device involving minstrels and their historical significance. Silke, who was excellent in Julio Medem's TIERRA, makes for an intriguing (if somewhat detached) heroine and shows off her knockout body in a rather erotic, nude sex scene that is almost worth the price of a rental.

The DVD from Studio Latino looks fine, but the so-called "Deleted Scenes" special feature merely shows a bunch of scenes that are already in the movie! November 14, 2004

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