MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: LAURIN (1989) Visual Vengeance Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review + Screenshots

LAURIN (1989)

Visual Vengeance Collector's Edition Blu-ray

Label: Visual Vengeance

Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated

Duration: 83 Minutes 38 Seconds

Audio: English or German Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles,Newly Translated German Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Robert Sigl

Cast: Dóra Szinetár, Brigitte Karner, Károly Eperjes, Hédi Temessy, Barnabás Tóth, János Derzsi

Laurin (1989) is the directorial debut of Robert Sigl, a Gothic coming-of-age/arthouse thriller set in Germany in 1901 we have a willful nine year-old young girl named Laurin (Dóra Szinetár) who lives in a rural port community. She lives at home with her mother Flora (Brigitte Karner), father Arne (János Derzsi), a sailor by trade, and elderly grandmother

Olga (Hédi Temessy). At the start of the film her father has just left the village for the work at sea, and Laurin finds herself bored and spending a lot of time alone, she bides her time peering into windows and observing the routines of the grown-up folk around town through her spyglass. A darkness creeps into the village when her classmates begin begin to be killed by a mysterious figure in black, her mother Flora becoming a victim herself when she encounters the killer on a well-travelled wooden bridge one night while, happening upon him as he is dragging a bag with the body of his most recent victim inside. At the same time Laurin experiences hallucinatory visions of her mother's death and the man in black.

Her father home returns home from sea to mourn his wife's death, but is soon gone to sea again to keep food on the table, effectively orphaning Laurin, who is left in the care of her grandmother, but the old woman is of a decrepit nature and absent minded, and it seems that Laurin is the one caring for her elderly grandmother, and she is left mostly to her own devices, hanging out with her bespectacled pal Stefan (Barnabás Tóth). While the increasingly fearful grown-up are desperate to catch the killer, they are seemingly unable to see the menace lurking in their midst. There's a somewhat creepy and blustery Pastor Van Reesand (Endre Kátay) who is unexpectedly harsh at times, and his son, Laurin's new teacher Mr. Van Rees (Károly Eperjes) who bullies her young friend Stefan. As with many children-in-peril films the adults are of little help, the world of grown-ups is strange and terrifying to her, but also quite curious, and young laurin is a keen observer, and the killer's identity will not elude her, aided by hallucinogenic dreams that reveal a killer in a black cloak and the cries of his victims clawing at glass windows which haunt her dreams, a sinister black dog, and a black kite which acts as sort of harbinger of doom, but the young girl finds herself in peril when she gets too close to the killer for her own good.

The film wash shot in rural Hungary and has oodles of haunting visuals, it's rustic and lush, steeped in Gothic atmosphere with some occasionally surreal imagery that sets a very specific fairytale tone that brought to mind kindred cinema like In The Company of Wolves, The Lady In White, The Reflecting Skin and and surreal Valerie and Her Week of Wonder, punctuated with Laurin's hallucinatory visions and macabre nightmares with some really moody multi-colored-lighting set-ups that are evocative of the earlier works of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. The overall vibe is period piece arthouse coming-of-age with crisp autumnal scenery and chilly folk-horror-ish notes. It's not horror specifically, but it is a fascinatingly dark coming-of-age tale with superior moments of childhood peril and suspense, making this easily one of my favorite discoveries of the year so far.

Audio/Video: The film makes it's North American disc debut on region-free Blu-ray from Visual Vengeance, with a director-approved 2K HD transfer from the original 35mm film elements, complete and uncut, in both the dubbed English and German language versions. Presented in 1080p HD and framed in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio this has some wonderful texture and detail to it, grain is tightly knit and well-managed, and the colors look terrific, with strong black levels and nice depth and clarity to it. If you're familiar with Wild Eye releasing imprint Visual Vengeance typically plunder the dusty vaults of SOV (shot-on-video) oddities that, to be generous, typically look like spit-shined VHS, so seeing this gorgeous 35mm shot film in lush 1080p HD looks was quite a treat for me, and I love seeing the branch out and expand the VV brand.

Audio on the Blu-ray comes by way of English or German Dolby Digital 2.0 with updated subtitle translations for the German version assisted by Robert Sigl. Both tracks are presented in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 and sound fine, dialogue is never hard to discern, and the sparse score credited to Hans Jansen and Jacques Zwart fare well in the mixes.

Disc extras are plentiful, with a generous array of new archival extras, kicking off with a brand new Audio Commentary by film historian Troy Howarth, author of Innocence Lost: Robert Sigl and the Curse of Laurin. As usual Howarth offers a dense and well-researched commentary track, noting the visual style and it's influences, and comparing it to other fantastical children in peril productions.

Perhaps the most Visual Venegeance extras here is the longer 101-min Original VHS Rough Cut of Laurin from director Robert Sigl’s private collection. The quality is a significant downgrade over the main feature, but it offers the actual set-recorded audio allowing viewers to hear the actors’ real voices, which were overdubbed for the theatrical and home video versions, which is a very cool curio for fans to enjoy. Also new is the hour-long Laurin c’est moi: New Interview with Director Robert Sigl (59:14), in which the director discusses his early love of horror and his fascination with the macabre, the influence of Dario Argento, his short films, casting this film, and the movie's distribution.

Archival extras ported over from previous releases include the two award-winning Short Flms by Robert Sigl, the 19-min The Christmas Tree (Der Weihnachtsbaum (1983) and the 10-min Coronoia 21: It Comes with the Snow (2021), the 10-min The Making of Laurin archival documentary, 18-min Interview with actress Dóra Szinetár, 10-min Interview with actor Barnabás Tóth, and a 16-min Interview with cinematographer Nyika Jancsó.

Additionally there's a 33-min Film historian Jonathan Rigby Interview, a 3-min Robert Sigl Bavarian Film Awards Presentation (1988), a whopping 8 Photo Galleries featuring never-before-seen images from Robert Sigl’s personal archives, plus the 2-min Original Trailer, the 1-min Visual Vengeance Trailer, and a 3-min selection of Visual Vengeance Trailers including American Taboo, Cyclops, and Vampire's Embrace. Having Troy Howarth and Jonathan Rigby on a Visual Vengeance disc feels weird, man. Not bad, just weird, like I said, I love that they're branching out here with some arthouse Gothic, and VV have really classed it up!

The single-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with a 2-sided non-reversible wrap featuring the original home video artwork. Stashed away inside are two Collectible Folded Mini-Posters featuring the same artwork as the wrap and the 0-card. Exclusive ephemera that are limited to the first-pressing only include a 6-page Illustrated Booklet with liner notes by Tony Strauss of Weng’s Chop magazine, a Limited Edition Mini-Postcard Set reproduced from German promotional materials, a ‘Stick your own’ VHS Sticker Sheet, plus a Limited Edition O-CARD with artwork by Justin Coons. There is also a Removable Obi-Strip that runs down the spine, which adds that extra touch of elegance, I've seen these as part of Radiance and certain 88 Films Blu-ray releases, but this is a first for Visual Vengeance, which adds that extra pinky-up element of class to it.

Special Features:

- Director-approved 2K HD transfer from the original 35mm film elements, complete and uncut, in both English- and German-language versions

- NEW! Feature-length audio commentary by film historian Troy Howarth, author of Innocence Lost: Robert Sigl and the Curse of Laurin

- NEW! Original VHS rough cut of Laurin from Sigl’s private collection, (01:41:08)

- NEW! Laurin c’est moi: New Interview with Director Robert Sigl (59:14)

- Two award-winning short films by Robert Sigl: The Christmas Tree (Der Weihnachtsbaum (1983, 19:26) and Coronoia 21: It Comes with the Snow (2021, 9:54)

- The Making of Laurin Archival Documentary (10:03)

- Interview with actress Dóra Szinetár (18:17)

- Interview with actor Barnabás Tóth (10:02)

- Interview with cinematographer Nyika Jancsó (15:42)

- Film historian Jonathan Rigby Interview (32:49)

- Robert Sigl Bavarian Film Awards Presentation (1988, 2:48)

- 8 photo galleries featuring never-before-seen images from - Robert Sigl’s personal archives.

- Collectible folded mini-poster.

- Blu-ray sleeve featuring original home video art.

- 6-page liner notes essay by Tony Strauss of Weng’s Chop magazine - FIRST PRESSING ONLY

- Limited Edition mini-postcard set reproduced from German promotional materials - FIRST PRESSING ONLY

- ‘Stick Your Own’ VHS Sticker Sheet - FIRST PRESSING ONLY