''Panic Beats'' () is a 1983 film starring

Paul Naschy Jacinto Molina Álvarez (September 6, 1934 – November 30, 2009) known by his stage name Paul Naschy, was a Spanish film actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayals of numerous classic horror figures&md ...

and Julia Saly. The film was a Spanish-Japanese co-production made as a sequel to Naschy's 1972 ''Horror Rises From the Tomb'' (featuring the return of his "Alaric de Marnac" character from the previous film). It was produced by Augusto Boue and Julia Saly for Naschy's company Aconito Films. Paul Naschy plays the monstrous Alaric de Marnac and Julia Saly, Lola Gaos, and Silvia Miro co-star. Some stock music written by Roberto Nicolosi for 1959's '' Caltiki the Immortal Monster'' can be heard in the background. Fernando Florido handled the gore and special effects. The film features a number of scenes involving full frontal female nudity. The old mansion Naschy used in the film was actually one of Generalisimo

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

's former homes, and in between takes, Naschy roamed the house and enjoyed rummaging through the various furnishings and paraphernalia that was left to rot in the house after Franco's death in 1975.

Plot

Paul Marnac plots to get rid of his wealthy wife Genevieve (who has a weak heart) by frightening her to death. He brings her to stay for a few months at his parents' old mansion in the country, telling her the peace and serenity will improve her heart condition. Meanwhile he is scaring her with legends of his 15th century ancestor, an evil murderous knight named Alaric de Marnac, making her think the monster still inhabits the house. Paul is having an affair with Julie, his young maid, and plans to marry her after his wife is out of the way. Paul even goes so far as to disguise himself as Alaric, wearing a 15th century suit of armor, and succeeds in scaring the poor woman to death. But the joke is on Paul, because after getting Paul to marry her, Julie electrocutes him in the bathtub. Thinking her plan has succeeded, Julie prepares to celebrate her ill-gotten gains, but then realizes that the legends of Alaric were true. The centuries-old monster appears in the house and wreaks a gory vengeance on Julie.

Cast

as Paul Marnac * Julia Saly as Genevieve *

Lola Gaos Dolores Gaos González-Pola (2 December 1921, in Valencia – 4 July 1993, in Madrid), better known as Lola Gaos, was a Spanish film, television and theatre actress. Famous with her works with Luis Buñuel but specially the film '' Furtivos'' ...

as Mobile *Silvia Miró as Mireille *

Frances Ondiviela Francisca Ondiviela Otero (born May 19, 1962), known professionally as Frances Ondiviela, is a Spanish-Mexican actress known for starring in the telenovela '' Acorralada''. Ondiviela was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. She studied theatre ...

as Julie *

Manuel Zarzo Manuel López Zarza (; 26 April 1932 – 16 or 17 June 2025), better known as Manuel Zarzo (), was a Spanish film actor. He appeared in more than 200 television and film works over his 7-decade long career. Zarzo made his film debut in ''Day b ...

as Dr. Lacombe *

José Vivó José Vivó (19 May 1917 – 26 July 1989) was a Spanish television, theater and film actor. Life He studied engineering, but the Spanish Civil War forced him to leave his studies unfinished. He fought on the side of the Second Spanish Repub ...

as Dr. Rigaud *

José Sacristán José María Sacristán Turiégano (born 27 September 1937), better known as José Sacristán, is a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor. He made his feature film debut in 1965 in '. At Gijón International Film Festival in 2015, he r ...

as Alain *Salvador Sáinz as Catholic priest *Charly Bravo *Hector Cantolla *Carol Kirkham

Release

The film was only released in Spain in May 1983, more than a year after it was completed. It was never dubbed in English nor was it shown theatrically outside of Spain. The film was however screened at the Brussels International Film Festival in November 1983, along with Naschy's other 1983 film ''The Beast and the Magic Sword'', and Naschy was given a prize there in recognition of his body of work in the cinefantastique genre. ''Panic Beats'' was later released direct to VHS in the U.S. ''Panic Beats'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in subtitled format by Mondo Macabro on 26 April 2005. A

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

version of the film came out on 9 March 2021 containing 4K transfer, LPCM 2.0 in Spanish with English subtitles.

References

External links

* Spanish horror films 1983 horror films 1983 films 1980s Spanish-language films 1980s Spanish films Spanish-language horror films {{1980s-Spain-film-stub ru:Смерть выходит из могилы