jadavix 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.

Lee Eisenberg Having seen a number of the late Paul Naschy's flicks, I expected "Latidos de pánico" ("Panic Beats" in English) to have no shortage of gore. It didn't disappoint. I also knew in advance that this is one of the movies in which Paul Naschy - whose real name was Jacinto Molina - does not play werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. The plot has a man and his infirm wife moving to his childhood estate, which was also the residence of his bloodthirsty ancestor. There is a legend that his ancestor rises from the dead to get revenge on anyone who wrongs his descendants. When mysterious things start happening at the estate, the wife begins wondering if the legend is true.I do prefer the movies in which Naschy grows fur and fangs, but this one was still cool. There's plenty of nudity, and even a see-through nightgown! There was something else. Usually I think that Paul Naschy resembles Quentin Tarantino. In most of this movie he did, but while wearing a hat, he looked like Marlon Brando in "The Godfather", and in the photo he looked like John Belushi in "Animal House". And this is in a horror flick! Anyway, it's some real fun. In the first scene with the snake, I blurted out "I've had it with these mother***king snakes on this mother***king grave!" PS: It's too bad that Paul Naschy never collaborated with Pedro Almodóvar on a movie. THAT would have been something cool! Probably a story of a werewolf having to deal with a damaged relationship.

HumanoidOfFlesh Paul Marnac,the offspring of Alaric de Marnac(of "Horror Rises from the Tomb aka El Espanto surge de la tumba",1973)takes his ill wife Genevieve on a vacation.Marnac family's manor hides an terrible history beneath and after awhile it seems that something evil has risen from the past.At the same time young woman Julie is going to have an affair with Paul.It looks like either a cruel plot against innocent Genevieve or something evil and unnatural.This mix of horror,sleaze and black comedy works for me.There is a little bit of gore and a decent amount of fill-frontal nudity,so my grimy exploitation heart was satisfied.Simple but stylish camera work combined with vivid colours is very close to 60's era of Hammer Films' classics.But like Naschy in his lead role,the whole film contains fun and foolish camp tone in it and therefore cannot be taken seriously.8 out of 10.

Michael_Elliott 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.