the leading man is my tpye

Good concept, poorly executed.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Paul Marnac, descendant of the 16th century warlock Alaric de Marnac, takes his sick wife back to his family home where she will be looked after by two maids in the family's employ: one, old and faithful, the other, young and beautiful.Before the married couple even arrive at the house events transpire to threaten the wife's fragile health. There is an attempted robbery on the road, thwarted by the powerfully-built husband, but when the pair arrive at the de Marnac family estate rather than quieting down things take a turn for the bizarre and the gruesome.This is a delightful Naschy horror romp in which the character of Alaric de Marnac makes his second and only appearance after the classic Horror Rises From the Tomb. Naschy keeps you guessing with constant surprises as the supernatural aspect of the story, generally a Naschy mainstay, is played down in favour of good old fashioned human iniquity. Indeed, the story makes you wish Alaric de Marnac could have made further appearances, but this was the last we ever saw of the character.

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.

From the moment I saw this listed as on the Mondo Macabro website, I was intrigued. It looked good and the reviews I read were mostly positive. So when it was finally released, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. After watching it, I wish I would have waited.What a major disappointment. Right from the start, I knew that Panic Beats couldn't meet my expectations. The whole look and feel of the film is terrible. It has that straight-to-video look that usually destroys atmosphere. The sets are nothing special at all. Most of the film looks like it could have been shot in my house. The story is incredibly predictable. There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot, but most are telegraphed from a mile away. The gore scenes are horribly done. And the whole concept of a knight that comes back from the dead is straight out of Scooby Doo. It's not a very frightening image.Paul Naschy does his best to provide some chills. With raised eyebrows and a menacing stare, he does his best to look frightening. But for the most part, it doesn't work. The most frightening scenes are of Naschy naked in the bathtub. Now that had me screaming.As for Mondo Macabro's disc, it's very well done. I have no complaints with the image, sound, or subtitles. The extras are quite nice, including a brief history of Spanish horror.

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.