Latidos de pánico

Panic Beats (1982)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Paul Naschy plays a man trying to care for his ill wife while carrying on affairs with two other women. All three women are causing him problems but thankfully there's a family curse that has a Knight return from the grave a kill anyone who dares harm him. Naschy also wrote and directed this film that has a very nice premise that goes back to his Horror Rises From the Tomb film. As usual, there are plenty of beautiful naked women but Naschy also adds some nice atmosphere, gory death scenes and some tense moments. However, like many other Naschy films, this one here eventually drags in a few spots but it's still well worth watching especially for a couple nice twists in the story.

Paul Naschy was quite an important contributor to the industry of European horror films, and I'm an unusually big fan of his work and persona, but he undeniably never accomplished anything major or classic during all his years of film-making. The titles in his repertoire provide large portions of gore and sleaze (thumbs up for that!) but his screenplays are generally uninspired and too often revert to the same old and repetitive basic premise. Apparently, Mr. Naschy just loves to play his own descendant in stories that revolve on ancient folklore legends and family curses. The entire "Hombre Lobo" cycle is based on this principle as well. "Panic Beats" is sort of like a re-telling of Naschy's earlier film "Horror Rises from the Tomb", as both films feature a murderously mad 16th Century knight - Alaric de Marnac - who supposedly returns from the grave to slay unfaithful women. In this film, 20th Century sleaze-ball Paul uses the petrifying myth to scare his wife to death, inherit her family fortune and marry a young & viral beauty. But, unfortunately for Paul, there's a lot more treason going on behind his back and he also never took into consideration that the myth of his malevolent ancestor might have some truth in it. The plot of "Panic Beats" is overall very dull and it doesn't feature a single story-element or twist that you can't see coming from several miles away. Every dire cliché and stereotype you can think of regarding isolated country mansions and medieval curses is predictably processed into the script, including the loyal old servant and the knight's armor that seemingly moves all by itself. But hey, as usual it was the high gore & sleaze factor that eventually convinced me to reward "Panic Beats" with a positive rating after all. There are a handful of truly nasty murders, committed with axes and other typically medieval armory. Beautiful feminine nudity is provided by luscious women such as Silvia Miró and Paquita Ondiviela, who both go full frontal without hesitating. I just wished Paul Naschy didn't insist on showing so much of his own naked and unusually hairy torso. Oh well … Recommended to all fans of trashy euro-horror, and the Mondo Macabro DVD is a real treat full of phenomenal extras!

Jacinto Molina or Paul Naschy is actor, screenwriter and director of this film about his popular role ¨Alaric De Marnais¨ based on a real character , Gilles De Rais , a knight of the Dark age during XV century , under command of Charles VII of France in times of Joan of Arc and as well as a murderer of hundreds of children . The first film he appeared was ¨El Espanto Surge de la Tumba¨ (Horror rises from the tomb 1972) directed by Carlos Aured and where Alaric is beheaded in public execution , then he swears revenge facing the executioner and his descendants . Now is a ghostly presence that heckle his eternal rest for executing a merciless vengeance in a script plenty of gaslight , murders and adulteries at a countryside mansion .

It's a B series entertainment with abundant sensationalistic scenes and a ¨Naif¨ style . The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato . Revolting , horrible scenes and nasty images take place as slashing , decapitation , and bloody murders with axes and other tools . As usual , Paul Nashy exhibits breast , as he was a weightlifting champion . Julia Saly interprets as the suffered wife and Lola Gaos as the old servant . Abundant nudism in charge of gorgeous Pat Ondiviela . It's a sequel to ¨Devil's possessed¨ or ¨Mariscal del Infierno¨ based on the historic character Gilles De Rais . Gilles was a devoutly religious follower of Joan of Arc who fought valiantly on her side and was later trialed and executed by the Catholic Church for heresy and sexual crimes committed against children . As Rais served as a commander in the Royal Army , distinguishing himself by displaying reckless bravery on the battlefield during the renewal of the Hundred Years War . Rais's prosecution would be on charges which included murder , sodomy , and heresy. The precise number of Gilles' victims is not known, as most of the bodies were burned or buried. The number of murders is generally placed between 80 and 200 ; a few have conjectured numbers upwards of 600 . The victims ranged in age from six to eighteen and included both sexes.

The motion picture was regularly directed by Jacinto Molina , being produced , wrote and shot in his peculiar style . The late Naschy was a good professional , writing, filmmaking and acting about hundred titles , mainly in terror genre . ¨Marshall of Hell¨ is written by Molina along with 21 screenplays as ¨Mark of Wolfman¨, ¨Night of Walpurgis¨, ¨Vengeance of the mummy¨, ¨Licantropo¨, among them . The flick will appeal to Paul Naschy fans and horror genre enthusiasts . Rating : mediocre but entertaining .

Paul Naschy films can be more than just a little bit hit and miss - and unfortunately there's a lot more misses than hits, but every now and again you happen upon a good one and this flick is certainly among the better Naschy films that I've seen. The film is directed by Naschy himself, and true to form (considering how a lot of his films are rather similar to each other) this one takes a hell of a lot of influence from Naschy's earlier works, particularly the boring Horror Rises from the Tomb. It's not original by any stretch of the imagination, but Panic Beats works well thanks to its atmosphere, gore and plot twists - it's almost verging on being a Giallo! The plot focuses on Paul; a rich descendant of a legendary knight named Alaric de Marnac. The knight has his own legend, and apparently he reappears every 100 years to batter any unfaithful women around his house. Paul decides to move his rich, but terminally ill wife up to the castle where the knight is reputed to have lived. Strange things start happening, and it appears the legend may be true...

The film gets off to a great start as we watch the knight chase down and slaughter a young woman. The film slows down from there and focuses more on the plot and characters. I won't say that it's all that interesting, but the film never gets boring and the way that we focus on the legend of the ancient knight is good. The film really picks up around the middle when the twist in the tale is revealed and it becomes obvious what the film is actually about. Naschy packs this flick with plenty of gore which is nice and the way that it's dished out is often unpleasant, which of course is also nice. There's a fair bit of bloodshed and the budget constraints were obviously a problem as it looks rather cheap - but it's still nice to watch. There's not as much nudity on display as some Euro-horror fans will be used to but Naschy is nice enough to cast some beautiful women and we do get some nudity. It all boils down to a predictable but well worked ending and while I cant say that Panic Beats is right up there with the best that Euro-horror has to offer - it's certainly a decent little film and above average for Naschy flick so I can recommend it.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Panic Beats; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.00 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.25 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.25

TOTAL: 6.00 out of 10

Panic Beats is a definite Paul Naschy vehicle. Not only does he star, but he has written and directed this Dark Thriller come Horror flick. The lucky thing for the audience is that Naschy's accomplished in all of the principles.

The story's been written and filmed many times. Boy meets girl and falls in love - Love turns to despisement - Disdain germinates into murderous notions - People die. What provides the story with a breath of freshness is the motivations and complications of its characters. Naschy litters the tale with red herrings, both scripted and visually on screen. However, I still found it easy to surmise who the killer was before two-thirds of the story was complete. Luckily Naschy adds extra interest with his characters and background mythology, so I never lost my involvement.

The filmmaking is a tad simpler than the narrative. Naschy opts for basic camerawork, which works well. He tries to get creative with light and shadow and more engaging camera angles, usually when the scenes demand it - like when he uses special effects. Though, more inventiveness would only have added power to the picture. The one thing he excels in is controlling the pacing. He keeps the storytelling to a steady trot but gets it up to a gallop or a sprint when the action starts and the jump scares spring forth. And when he wants you uneasy, he adds the creepiness by prolonging the scene. One of the worst things about the filming was the FX heads. I loved the idea of the human heads mounted on the walls in place of the stags. What would have shoved the nightmare into awesomeness would have been realism. They looked so cheap and fake that they were laughable. It's sad because there aren't that many effects in the movie.

Naschy and the cast are outstanding in their performances. Each actor and actress play their part to the full. Only one actress stood out for me, Lola Gaos as Mabile. I believe it's because I liked her character the most, and Gaos superbly nails the servant woman come surrogate mother's persona.

Panic Beats is a watchable and enjoyable movie. You can use your detective skills to derive the murderer's identity or merely sit back and savour the film. Thanks to the story and film construction, either works well. Definitely worth one watch.

Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers, Absolute Horror, and The Game Is Afoot lists to see where I ranked Panic Beats.

Take Care & Stay Well.