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So the runtime on the VCE small boxed version was the same as the Cineplex Odeon tape in my Wizard Video box: 89m 20s or thereabouts. It was also much better looking than the Cineplex Odeon/Wizard tape, with brighter colors and less grain to the picture: Is it safe to say that the RETURN OF THE ZOMBIES version is not confined to just Wizard? I take it from the Mark of Naschy web page that there is no point in trying to find an actual Wizard tape, since it to will be the same cut 89m 20s version. So we can do away with the myth of Wizard's tape being uncut: I am not sure where I heard it but that's why I bothered looking for one.

After all these months since seeking general advice as to what to keep, the conclusion is to keep the VCE tape, a HANGING WOMAN and the MV DVD-r, which is being screened right now and just fabulous. The Japanese subtitles are of course rather onerous and this is one movie where the fogging of pubi actually annoys me in one spot -- Usually I just sort of note it. But here it definitely interfered with Mr. Nash & Vicki Nesbitt's faux necropheliac twist, though her spiraling sex scene with Stan Cooper fared better and the fogging looked more like decorative flourishes. Funny people, the Japanese: Raping tentical penises can tear a schoolgirl into dribbly bits and eat them onscreen but they will not permit pubic hair on caucasian horror actresses. And presumably the Oriental actresses too though the films I watch tend to be rather vanilla ...

But I DID notice an oddity worth noting: The title font used for the RETURN OF THE ZOMBIS opening credits on MV's DVD-R is different in color, shape and opacity than on the two RETURN OF THE ZOMBIS tapes I have -- "Wizard" and VCE both have a solid white lettering, MV's is a tan shade and not entirely solid. They do NOT look electronically superimposed: They look like a part of the film print [or original transfer to video]. But they look different enough to make me wonder what the heck the deal is and raise the mystery bar regarding this film a bit higher. Not contributing to the least of which are the alternate titles:

Orga de los muertos, La
Beyond the Living Dead
Dracula the Terror of the Living Dead
Hanging Woman (USA) (video box title)
Orgia dei morti, La (Italy)
Return of the Zombies
Terror of the Living Dead (USA)
The Hanging Woman
The Orgy of the Dead
Zombie 3: Return of the Living Dead
Return of the Zombis

I added the last one myself, and also had 1972 as the year of production, the IMDB lists 1973. It's sort of like UPSTAIRS/DOWNSTAIRS with titties, zombies, necrophelia and two excellent uses of the word "SCOUNDREL". Not sure where they are getting Dracula from, but Dracula the Terror of the Living Dead is my favorite by far: Is that just a holdover from Naschy's fame from DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE?

I'm not sure about Paul Nash's performance as a "gravedigger". Perhaps it is just a lack of consecrateable ground in this particular part of Europe, but he seems more like a bricklayer or mason who just happens to wall up bodies. And the graves are already "dug", or rather hollowed out of the wall in the crypts we are shown. I like him with longish Meatloaf hair though, and the scenes of him running away at full tilt from the inspectors is hilarious without intending to be so OR looking "silly" at the same time. That's just the way he runs, but as Waldemar Daninsky he is usually leaping through panes of tiled glass or sitting at a dinner explaining his research projects. Standing about 5'5" and with the outfit he has on HE REMINDS ME OF A HOBBIT, and for once that isn't such a bad thing.

Yeah it does look as though the Canuks either traded a master or nabbed unsold backstock from Wizard, along with some of their boxes. While they are missing the opening funerary scene I start to sense the appeal of those HANGING WOMAN tapes.

But make no mistake about it: You GOTTA reel in a MV DVD-R of this if the film appeals to you. While fullframe it IS a "DVD quality" picture and has dominated my deck all week.