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

The Italian DVD by Mosaic Media is based on the export version but is shortened by some plot scenes. It's possible that mastering errors could be responsible for the cuts, as there are obvious frame jumps in places after all. During the opening credits, some scenes were removed, presumably to remove the title overlays. The DVD contains only the Italian audio. No other short jump cuts or film tears are mentioned in the report.

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:

Wizard Video VHS:

Full Moon Blu-ray:

Runtimes:

Mosaic Media DVD: 90:21 min.
Full Moon Blu-ray: 98:08 min.

Comparison between the Italian DVD by Mosaic Media and the US Blu-ray by Full Moon.

[00:00:00][00:00:00]

The Italian version shows the movie title at the beginning.

IT: 5 secs.


[00:00:08][00:00:04]

The men take the coffin out of the hearse. Igor watches as they do so. The movie title fades in.

EX: 15 sec.


[00:00:17][00:00:29]

Alternate title overlays.

No time difference.


[00:00:31][00:00:43]

In one shot, the men carry the coffin into the cemetery.

EX: 3 secs.


[00:00:44][00:01:00]

Mary watches as the coffin is carried across the cemetery. The next shot begins earlier.

EX: 11 secs.


[00:00:50][00:01:17]

The men continue to carry the coffin to the tomb.

EX: 5 secs.


[00:16:41][00:17:55]

Serge resists suspicion being cast on him. The inspector says that no one is charged yet and asks the lawyer to continue. He announces that the property falls to Serge.

Nadia, who has been eavesdropping from her room, gets angry. She refocuses and goes to the mirror. She tells Igor to come to her. He stands behind a wall and watches her through a peephole.

The Italian version resumes as Nadia puts her hands down.

EX: 49 secs.


[00:24:24][00:26:48]

Jump cut: the camera pulls back from Leon. He asks if Doris could make him a cognac since the pictures made him sick.

EX: 6 secs.


[00:38:34][00:41:47]

Doris can be seen for a longer time. She says that it is her and not Nadia.

EX: 1 sec.


[00:41:57][00:45:20]

Leon and Serge can be seen for a longer time.

EX: 2 secs.


[00:42:01][00:45:26]

There is a missing cut to Serge asking Leon how his uncle could get involved in something like this.

EX: 4 secs.


[00:47:31][00:51:18]

Doris can be seen earlier as she stands up.

EX: 2 secs.


[00:52:26][00:56:27]

Serge goes on to say that his uncle had a document with him when he was buried. If he is correct it must still be there.

EX: 12 secs.


[00:52:34][00:56:48]

The mayor can be seen earlier. He says that he thinks Serge's story is implausible.

EX: 15 secs.


[00:52:36][00:57:04]

Serge can be seen earlier. He is pounding the table with his fist.

EX: 1 sec.


[00:53:20][00:57:50]

Serge picks up the crowbar and says it couldn't be better.

EX: 6 secs.


[00:59:09][01:03:59]

Nadia says during the séance that everyone present should think only of Mary. Cut to Igor laughing. Nadia calls Mary and notices that she is with them.

EX: 37 sec.


[01:10:18][01:16:13]

Doris can be seen earlier. She says that she was in the kitchen.

EX: 2 secs.


[01:10:26][01:16:24]

Serge says to Doris that someone ran up the stairs carrying Doris's coat. Doris looks and sees that her coat is gone.

Serge and Doris run downstairs to the lab. Serge thinks they are dealing with witchcraft.

EX: 52 sec.


[01:30:17][01:37:59]

The Italian version fades in "Fine" earlier and fades out earlier.

IT: 4 secs.
EX: 9 sec.