NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Mondo Macabro Blu-ray (February 2021): Mondo Macabro have transferred Paul Naschy's Panic Beats to Blu-ray. It is advertised as the 'uncut' version. Cited as being from a "Brand new 4k transfer from film negative" seems strange as it is in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. But the image quality is pretty reasonable and consistent without visual anomalies. It's on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate. It's certainly a solid notch above SD with deep colors and depth. The film-like softness is inherent and the grain textures are consistent. It looks good.

NOTE: We have added 62 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Mondo Macabro use a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original Spanish language. Like the video, it sounds competent - authentically flat with minor depth in the plentiful aggressive effects. The score is credited to Moncho Alpuente and Servando Carballar - pretty much their only film composition nod. the audio is clean and probably a decent representation of the original film.  Mondo Macabro offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Mondo Macabro Blu-ray offers a new commentary by The Naschycast (Troy Guinn & Rod Barnett.) They discuss the various titles of the film, a lot on Naschy's career, similarities of "Panic Beats" to 'Gaslight'. I thought there was some intelligent observations and edifying comments on Naschy and his life. Those keen to indulge will appreciate their efforts. There are also two interviews with Paul Naschy- the first - 'On His Life in Cinema' running shy of 1/2 hour and a second simply entitled 'Spanish Interview' lasting 36-minutes. There are also the usual 10+ minutes of Mondo Macabro previews. 

Paul Naschy remains a highly interesting filmmaker in the Euro horror genre. We've reviewed a handful of his work (The Devil Incarnate, The Fury of the Wolfman, Inquisition, Night of the Werewolf, Vengeance of the Zombies etc.)  and there is a even two Blu-ray Boxsets available (volume #1 and #2). The oddly titled Panic Beats (referring to the wife's heart condition) doesn't have the cache of the actor/director's Count Waldemar Daninsky efforts but it held my attention throughout. Naschy has played Dracula, the Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, Fu Manchu, not including a Werewolf in 16 different films. Panic Beats is more of a thriller with horror overtones that are played to the maximum.  It's not bad at all in terms of the plot, but is a shade over-baked in terms of gore effects, unnecessary nudity etc.... which, to be fair, is commonplace for his style. His fans should enjoy this one. The Mondo Macabro Blu-ray puts another Paul Naschy film to 1080P and the commentary and extras make it desirable for fans of this genre. 

Gary Tooze