"Latidos De Pánico" aka "Panic Beats" of 1983 is a neat little Horror film that mainly profits from a load of sleaze and Spanish Horror/Exploitation-icon Paul Naschy, who serves as leading man, writer and director. Paul Naschy enjoys a cult-status among my fellow fans of European Exploitation cinema, and, as far as I am concerned, his reputation is more than deserved. While the films he was involved in (as actor, writer, and sometimes, such as in this one, as director) may not qualify as being masterpieces or milestones, all Naschy films I've seen so far are highly entertaining, sleazy and violent little films that any fan of trashy low-budget Eurohorror should enjoy. What is most important, however, is that all of the man's films have a certain inimitable charm to them that can not be found anywhere but in a Naschy film. Naschy is probably best known for his role as Werewolf Waldemar Daninsky, whom he played in thirteen films so far, most famously in "La Noche De Walpurgis" of 1971. The character of the blood-thirsty knight Alaric De Marnac, whom Naschy plays here, is more sardonic than the Werewolf character, and, once again, the film has to do with a family curse. Naschy had already played Alaric De Marnac once, ten years earlier, in "El Esperanto Surge De La Tumba" ("Horror Rises From The Tomb", 1973). In addition to a creepy atmosphere and the usual Naschy-esquire charm, this sequel has a wonderful sense of black humor.In the 16th century, the insane knight Alaric De Marnac (Naschy) terrorizes rural France with his blood-lust, using mainly his favorite weapon, the flail. Centuries later, his ancestor Paul Marnac (also Naschy) comes to his family's old castle with his wife, who needs the rural air in order to cure her heart disease... The film may not have the most logical storyline ever, but it delivers more than just diverting sleaze and gore. Naschy the director delivers a wonderful atmosphere, and Naschy the actor delivers an awesome lead. Sexy Paquita Ondiviela gets naked at every occasion and she also fits very well in the female lead. Paul Naschy plays his two roles with his usual greatness. Some may disagree, but I am personally a massive Naschy-fan, as he makes every film worthwhile, and his status as a Eurohorror-icon is more than justified. And while "Latidos De Panico" is maybe no milestone, I highly recommend it to my fellow fans of Eurohorror. Even if cheesy, this is great fun and a film that Exploitation lovers should enjoy. Not to be missed by my fellow Naschy-fans!

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.

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!

Cult Spanish horror actor Paul Naschy not only stars in Panic Beats—he wrote and directed it too; I guess that puts the majority of the blame for this dreadful mess squarely on his massive hairy shoulders.Taking the basic premise of French classic Les Diaboliques for the first half of his story—someone plots to kill their spouse by scaring them to death—and then veering wildly off in to all manner of convoluted goings on, until the final supernatural ending, Naschy delivers a muddled effort that bores more than it scares.The film starts rather promisingly with a nifty pre-credit sequence that sees a nekkid chick running for her life from an evil knight on horseback. Falling to the ground in terror, she is beaten to death by the knight—weapon of choice: a nasty looking flail with spiked metal balls.The rest of the film is set in the present day, and proves to be pretty uninspiring stuff, until about 20 minutes from the end, when viewers are treated to smattering of cheesy OTT gore. At least Naschy has the decency to feature a couple of Euro-babes in the altogether to keep us from completely glazing over; Paquita Ondiviela (¡Ay, caramba!) is particularly winsome as the wayward niece of Naschy's housekeeper.Panic Beats is a film I can see appealing only to die-hard Euro-horror completists; anyone else will have a hard time seeing this one through to the end.