Le chevalier d'outre-tombe

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 .

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.

This is out on DVD from Mondo Macabro, and I confess I own every DVD they've put out, even the UK-issued PAL ones. Well, one exception: I did not get O Ritual dos Sádicos (1970) AKA Awakening of the Beast, since I'd seen it already in Image Entertainment's Coffin Joe box set and I absolutely hated it. I'll also admit to the fact that I get a kick out of watching horror movies that have relatively few user ratings on the IMDb (less than 100, less than 20). So of course I bought Panic Beats when it came out!

The lead in Panic Beats is played by Paul Naschy AKA Jacinto Molina, a very prolific Spanish actor specializing in horror. In spite of his many films, I think the only ones I'd seen previously were La Orgía de los muertos (1973) and Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo (1972), the latter of which was one of Mondo Macabro's PAL DVDs. So far, I don't see the appeal of him as an actor. He looks a little like the late John Belushi, but seems to lack the humor and charisma. Naschy's acting, particularly in Panic Beats is very stoic, very nearly expressionless.

Panic Beats starts off energetically, with a scene set in the past with a knight chasing down a fully nude woman and killing her with a mace. The knight is Alaric du Marnac, a Gille de Rais-type character Naschy'd played before in Espanto surge de la tumba, El (1973).

After that, it's in the present day. Naschy is married to a nervous woman prone to nightmares. He takes her to an isolated home owned by his family, and their trip is not without incident. At the home is an old family servant and a pretty young relative of hers. The movie's pace is pretty slow for some time after their arrival, and it becomes evident that Naschy intends to "gaslight" his wife (Naschy, as the film's writer/director was consciously drawing from Gaslight, and Rebecca, the novel of which is mentioned by a character). Also being referenced is Les Diaboliques (1955), particularly in one scene stolen from that film, and poorly imitated here.

Much of the terror of the film is supposed to come from what is supposed to be a ghost of du Marnac, dressed in armor. Naschy, as writer/director again thought the idea of a knight moving like a tank through a modern home to be terrifying in itself. Given the incongruity, perhaps it could have been, but it is not here. It doesn't help, for example, that the house is already filled with several sets of armor; gone the incongruity - this is no "clown at midnight" to borrow Robert Bloch's phrase. The armor is also quite plain and shiny, which I didn't think helped either. And for myself, I'll add that I more or less immediately thought both of the knight in Scooby Doo, and the rubber-chicken wielding knight in Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series. An example of a terrifying knight in a modern context that worked would be the knight in Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King, so the idea is not without potential.

Naschy has lovers, and confidants, and people outside his plot yet within his circle, so there is the potential for things to start going wrong. The movie gets more interesting when this happens. There is some gore, but really not a lot. There is some full frontal nudity, and you also get to see rather a lot of Naschy who for an ex-weightlifter looks more burly than muscular.

I found the movie to be disappointing. I did like the special features, though. There is one on Spanish horror films, making particular mention of Naschy, Jess Franco, Jorge Grau, and Amando de Ossorio. There is another that is an interview with Naschy. Both are quite interesting, and made the movie not seem like such a bad purchase.

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.

This entertaining effort from 1983 has everything you would expect from a Spanish horror movie: a) Paul Naschy, b) a low budget, c) a curse from the past and d) gratuitous gore to satisfy splatter freaks.

Even though the production values are rather low key, the film is always entertaining and keeps you interested from beginning to end. There are enough twists to develop a decent plot filled with surprises. And, as mentioned before, there are also a handful of gory moments that are well crafted and really nasty (but don't expect a movie focused on blood and guts).

The most remarkable aspect of the plot is its mix of crime thriller and ghost story elements, which fit together surprisingly well. And this is one of those movies, where Paul Naschy's character is NOT the ill-fated Valdemar Daninsky!

Recommended for all friends of European horror.