The Bone Men's Choir of the Dead

Serge Chekov travels to Skopje to attend his late uncle's will reading. But shortly after his arrival, he finds the body of his niece Mary hanging from a tree in the cemetery. The autopsy reveals that Mary died of a heart attack, but the doctor won't rule out the possibility that she was scared to death. The will stipulates that Serge inherits his uncle's opulent estate, while his wife Nadia receives only scraps. Professor Leon Droila and his daughter Doris also live in the old castle. The latter has set up a laboratory in the basement to work on the reanimation of dead creatures. Nadia tries to convince Serge with her feminine charms to chase them out of the castle, but Serge already has his eye on the pretty Doris. Meanwhile, more murders occur, with Serge getting closer and closer to the center of the investigation. Serge, meanwhile, sets up his own investigation and rather suspects the shady gravedigger Igor as the culprit.

Orgy of the Living Dead is a wild mixture of gothic horror and murder mystery, in which necrophilia, a mad scientist, occultism and zombies are unabashedly packed. Logic falls a bit by the wayside at times, but the film is so moodily staged that genre fans should get their money's worth. It stars Paul Naschy as a gravedigger who identifies a bit too much with his job.

Uncut version included on US Blu-ray

There are basically two alternative versions of Orgy of the Living Dead. The export version and the Spanish version in which all nude scenes were either cut or replaced with softer alternative scenes. This was common practice for Spanish productions from that time, as no nude scenes were allowed for the domestic market.

Curiously, the Spanish version nevertheless contains two more permissive scenes. When the inspector is looking through Igor's pictures, there is a naked woman on them. Towards the end, when Serge fights the zombies, the naked woman's body can be seen in the background in some shots, which was previously replaced by alternative shots.

There are two editions of the US Blu-ray of Full Moon. The first edition was unfortunately defective, but had The Return of the Zombis version in the bonus material. Now you can only get the flawless second edition without the old video version. The new edition can be recognized by the V.2 in the inner ring of the Blu-ray. The release is highly recommended. The picture quality is very good and the film is uncut. The only drawback is the thin bonus material and the only mediocre English dub. The original Spanish audio is unfortunately not available.

Picture comparison:

Spanish version:

Full Moon Blu-ray:

Runtimes:

Spanish version: 93:49 min. (PAL)
Full Moon Blu-ray: 98:08 min.

Comparison between the Spanish version (pay TV broadcast on Calle 13) and the US Blu-ray by Full Moon.

[00:00:4][00:00:06]

Alternate title overlays.

No time difference.


[00:13:22][00:13:58]

The Spanish version cuts to the doctor pulling the sheet back further and taking the pliers.

In the export version, the same shot continues. Naked Mary can be seen on the autopsy table.

SP: 4 secs.
EX: 4 sec.


[00:17:25][00:18:12]

Film tear: Serge grabs his face.

EX: 1 sec.


[00:18:30][00:19:21]

The Spanish version shows a close-up of Nadia as she drops her top. Then a cut to Igor behind the wall watching her do it.

In the export version, the same shot continues with Nadia dropping her top.

SP: 4 secs.
EX: 4 sec.


[00:18:41][00:19:31]

Nadia is seen earlier in the export version as she shakes the cloth.

EX: 3 secs.


[00:19:57][00:20:54]

The export version shows Igor kissing Nadia's body.

The Spanish version doesn't kick in until he bites her.

EX: 18 secs.


[00:20:20][00:21:36]

When Igor goes to his corpses, the first deceased is covered in the Spanish version, while she is naked in the export version.

Spanish version:

Export version:

SP: 32 sec.
EX: 40 sec.


[00:38:20][00:40:30]

As Nadia joins Serge in bed, she covers her breasts with a cloth.

In the export version, she drops the cloth before coming to Serge. The follow-up shot also starts earlier.

SP: 9 sec.
EX: 9 sec.


[00:38:40][00:40:51]

In the export version, naked Nadia lies on top of Serge as they spin. As they do so, Igor pulls the coffin out of its crypt, opens it, and pushes the deceased's shroud aside.

EX: 26 sec.


[00:38:43][00:41:20]

The Spanish version shows Igor opening the coffin after briefly showing Nadia and Serge turning around.

SP: 9 secs.


[00:39:02][00:41:31]

The export version once again shows Serge and Nadia lying in each other's arms as the camera slowly comes to rest.

EX: 8 sec.


[00:49:04][00:52:07]

The Spanish version shows a close-up of Doris before Serge pockets his lighter.

In the export version, she begins unbuttoning her corset.

SP: 3 secs.
EX: 3 sec.


[00:49:12][00:52:16]

Again, the Spanish version shows a close-up of Doris.

In the export version, she drops her corset. Serge takes a puff from his cigar as she does so.

SP: 2 sec.
EX: 12 sec.


[00:49:18][00:52:32]

The Spanish version shows only Doris' face as she begins to cry. When Serge sends her away in the next shot, she is wearing her corset.

In the export version, Doris stands naked in front of Serge. The camera zooms in on her crying face. She is still naked in the following shot in which Serge sends her away.

SP: 51 sec.
EX: 59 sec.


[01:17:03][01:21:35]

The Spanish version zooms in on the head of the living corpse as Serge rips off its coat.

The export version shows the body of the dead naked woman before zooming in on her face.

SP: 3 sec.
EX: 3 sec.


[01:17:15][01:21:47]

In the Spanish version, Serge turns to shoot the body.

In the export version, the naked live female corpse is behind him.

SP: 1 sec.
EX: 1 sec.


[01:32:50][01:38:02]

In the Spanish version, you can see the car, followed by the credits.

The export version fades in "Fine" as the car is seen. There are no credits.

SP: 59 secs.
EX: 6 sec.