Did anyone also happen to notice...?

Robert Lynn's (albeit brief) character, Dr. Paul Beecher, was the lead
character in Landres/Fielder's previous outing "The Vampire". In that
film, Beecher was more prominently played by John Beal. In fact, the
exterior of his practice looks exactly the same as it did in "The
Vampire" (no doubt via stock footage from the film). In that Beal's
Beecher dies by the end of "The Vampire", can we now consider "The
Return of Dracula" as it's prequel?! The fact that the "Midnite Movies"
DVD release of the films has "The Return... " headlining the
double-bill would seem to support this, however... this fact is not
made mention of anywhere (not where "Midnite Movies" usually has a "Fun
Fact" listed, not on any of IMDb's trivia listings or user comments
till now). Anyone out there agree or disagree?