Customer Reviews

Panic Beats

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Well-to-do married couple Paul Marnac (Naschy) and Genevieve (Saly) aren't quite

as happy as they appear; Paul's business is in trouble and he's having a fling on

the side with Julie (Ondiviela), a sexy young schemer who's more than happy to

help Paul bump off his frail wife. Fortunately Paul happens to be a descendant

of Alaric de Marnac (the medieval fiend played by Naschy in the earlier Horror

Rises from the Tomb), and legend has it that Alaric returns in knight gear once

every century to clean house of anyone making life miserable for the family.

Other players in the household include Paul's secretary and occasional mistress

Mirielle (MirO) and the creepy housekeeper Mabile (Gaos), who has a habit of

popping up in Julie's nightmares with a bleeding slit throat. Soon death

strikes in this cursed household as the knighted terror returns, but all is

not as it seems...

Having thoroughly explored the possibilities of transposing the classic Universal

monsters to Spain with his series of Waldemar Daninsky werewolf films and one-offs

like Count Dracula's Great Love, here horror icon Naschy takes a stab at William

Castle territory with this fast-paced, nasty, and thoroughly enjoyable fusion of

The Tingler and House on Haunted Hill. With its scheming lovers, trippy dream

sequences, and even a woman terrorized by a ghoul rising from a bathtub and

other horrors lying in wait outside, this ode to the master of screen gimmickry

features enough knots in its plot to keep viewers guessing. Even the over-the-top

finale is pure Castle, with supernatural horror and murder mystery shenanigans

finally swirling together to produce a hefty body count that ends on a suitably

delirious note. The film features an enjoyable turn from Naschy in a less

sympathetic role than usual and benefits from some heaping dollops of sex

including a lengthy topless bedroom scene, while Naschy-as-director piles

on the gothic visuals with plenty of stylized lighting and quirky camera

tricks. Add to that a typically pulsating score yanked from the CAM library

and you've got one of the stronger early '80s Euro horror titles, which was

strangely never circulated much outside of its native country except in wretched

bootleg editions... until now, that is.

In typically devoted fashion, Mondo Macabro delivers an immacualte, visually

stunning presentation of this rarity in a condition that literally looks like

a completely different film compared to past video editions. Colors are

beautifully saturated, and detail is pin-perfect throughout; this easily earns

its spot as one of their most satisfying visual presentations to date. The mono

Spanish soundtrack features optional English subtitles and sounds fine, with every

booming musical cue and piercing shriek coming through loud and clear. As for

extras, you get a new interview with Naschy in which he warmly talks about his

career, a retro-fitted episode of Eurotika! devoted to Spanish horror, a hefty

still and artwork gallery, and the usual party-worthy Mondo Macabro promo reel

I expected this film to be an exciting, atmospheric bloodbath, but that didn't happen. Panic Beats is full of cheap thrills along the lines of many snake in the bed bits with drawn out scenes, boring dialogue (not even funny dialogue), and an unfolding double cross between Naschy and his wife, mistress, and new love interest, and two good gore scenes (the only gore scenes) towards the end.

I was disappointed in this one...there's nothing better from Mondo Macabro than "Lady Terminator."

Skip this one.