Jacinto Molina or Paul Naschy is actor,screenwriter and director of this film about the personage ¨Alaric de Marnais¨ based on real character, Gilles de Rais, a knight of the Dark age during XV century, to order of Charles VII of France in times of Joan of Ark and murderer of hundred children. The first film that 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 descendants.Now is a ghostly presence that heckle his eternal rest for executing the vengeance in a script plenty of gaslight,murders and adulteries in a countryside house .

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 at tomato .Paul Nashy exhibits breast but he was weightlifting champion.Julia Saly interprets the suffered wife and Lola Gaos is the old servant.Abundant nudism in charge of Pat Ondiviela. Music is heard on the final film imitates to ¨the cannibals ¨(Liliana Cavani and score by Ennio Morricone). The motion picture is regularly directed by Jacinto Molina. The flick will like to Paul Naschy fans and horror genre enthusiastic. Rating : mediocre but entertained.


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I'm a big Paul Naschy fan, but I understand that for most people (even dyed-in-the-wool horror movie fans), Naschy movies are, at best, an acquired taste (provided, that is, that the "most people" in question have even heard of Naschy). Naschy's films are almost always poorly acted, ludicrously plotted, embarrassingly cheesy, and...perhaps needless to say...low budget all the way. But...they have a unique mid-70's European vibe that I've always relished, the sets and surroundings are truly beautiful (as are many of the actresses that appear in Naschy films), and the horror...while sometimes sillier than scary...is always lovingly and enthusiastically presented, as Naschy was a true fan of the old Universal horror movie genre (he was profoundly influenced by "Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman"), and his enthusiasm...the enthusiasm of a fan trying to emulate what he loves...always comes through. At their best, Naschy's films are great entertainment, and his signature character...the tortured werewolf Waldemar Daninsky...is one of cinema's most terrifying, frenzied and murderous werewolves ever.

Unfortunately, "Panic Beats" doesn't have a werewolf. Doesn't have a Mummy either, or a Dr. Jekyll. What it does have is Alaric de Marnac, a murderous medieval knight obviously patterned on the real-life murderer Gilles de Rais and first introduced in Naschy's 1973 movie "Horror Rises From The Tomb" (a personal favorite of mine). Sadly, in "Panic Beats", the de Marnac character appears only briefly (albeit effectively) in the film, and his relative lack of screen time lessens the overall impact of the film, mainly because the human characters, evil and perverse as they are, aren't interesting enough to sustain the film. Maybe with more accomplished actors, or a less improbable script, it might have been different. Maybe.

Naschy admits in a DVD interview that he borrowed heavily from "Gaslight" and "Rebecca" for "Panic Beats". Sadly, despite being as much of a fan as I admit to being, I would have to concede that Naschy is no George Cukor or Alfred Hitchcock. Not even close.

This is not to suggest that "Panic Beats" is a failure. The narrative flows with surprising smoothness (surprising given that it's a Naschy movie), and, while it's not as engaging as it should be, it also doesn't have large boring stretches where nothing much happens, like too many of Naschy's films do. Too...while Naschy as an actor never gave Jack Nicholson any sleepless nights, he's enjoyable as the evil philanderer and descendant of de Marnac, plotting not only how he's going to rid himself of his wife, but also an extra mistress that he's grown tired of. Julie Saly, who was so striking and memorable as the vampire based on Elisabeth Bathory in Naschy's 1980 "Night of the Werewolf" (or, as it was sometimes called, "The Craving"), plays his wife; while she doesn't have much in the way of material to work with, she gives it her histrionic best. The actresses playing his 2 mistresses aren't much in the way of talent, but they do look good in the nude (sorry to come across sounding like a sexist, but sometimes in a Naschy film abundant female nudity is the only thing that will keep my eyes open).

As mentioned, there's plenty of nudity, laughably inept and over-the-top gore (more reminiscent of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" than "Cannibal Holocaust"), and exquisite scenery. What's more interesting than the film, for me anyway, are the extras contained on the Mondo Macabro DVD. One feature is a recent interview with a now-bald, somewhat paunchy Naschy, and he's a delight to watch--- witty, humorous, insightful, passionate about his work but never delusional about it. Naschy notes that the estate in Spain where much of the film was made used to belong to Francisco Franco, and the car that had been given to Franco as a gift by Hitler was still in the garage while they were filming.

Definitely worth seeing if you're already a Naschy fan. If you aren't familiar with Naschy, you might be better off seeing "Night of the Werewolf" or "Count Dracula's Great Love". Or even "The Werewolf and the Yeti". Now, THAT'S a horror movie!