Laurin - Visual Vengeance

Laurin, available on blu-ray now from Visual Vengeance, surprised me. Based on the imagery on the case and the little plot description I read, I was expecting some fucked up shit, especially since I had never heard of it, and it takes place in old-timey Germany. But the story of murdered children is much more atmospheric than straightforward horror. And it captures more of a fairy tale childhood darkness than typical horror movie dread. 

Is that all vague enough? It’s all just very European, for better or worse. So it’s certainly slow and needlessly mysterious at times. But it kept me interested throughout, and I appreciate a movie more concerned with expressing the vibe of a time period and situation rather than drowning me in gore and jump scares.

Laurin is about death, but from a child’s perspective. In that case, I think it captures that feeling. The adults are either absent (literally or figuratively) or antagonistic to the children. Laurin is left to figure everything out on her own, and at a young age, or any age, that’s going to be dark and confusing at times. 

Laurin isn’t some hidden masterpiece, but it was an interesting curio that is refreshing compared to more recent films about death and darkness.  

Transfer and Special Features 

This looks great, which is important since it’s a much more atmospheric film than one might expect. There’s also a “VHS” version included, which is something Visual Vengeance does a lot, and I’m all for it. Of course the best quality is preferred, but for people who grew up watching movies like this on VHS, it’s nice to have that nostalgic option.

This includes postcards. This has been common with special editions for years, and I’ve never understood what you’re supposed to do with these things. I never even take them out of the plastic. And honestly, if someone sent me a Laurin postcard, I'd call the FBI.

There’s a new audio commentary with a dude who literally wrote a book about Laurin, so I’m sure it’s great. I just can’t devote the time to check out all the commentaries on these releases. 

The interview with director Robert Sigl is lengthy and covers everything you would want to know about the film. I found it very interesting that he said German films at the time could not address death in any straightforward way. Is that true of Germany in the ‘80s? Anyway, that's his reason for this being more of a dark fairy tale than a traditional horror film. And he claims the house they used and he stayed in was haunted. 

There are plenty of interviews from a 2017 release, conducted by Sigl. These include the actors who portrayed Laurin and Stefan, the cinematographer, and a critic. I skimmed these, but I’m sure they’re informative, especially for fans of the film.

There’s an archival making-of doc that seems to be mainly about how cheap it is to film in Hungary. I’m pretty sure it was simply a promo made by the Hungarian film commission or whatever. Still, plenty of footage from behind the scenes which is always nice.

There’s a clip from the 1988 Bavarian Film Awards (the trophy is wild), and it's odd because there are no speeches from Sigl. It’s just him getting a couple awards.

Two short films from Sigl are also included. They’re not really related to this particular film, but I still checked them out. One certainly shows his love for David Lynch as it has shades of Eraserhead (he also mentioned multiple Lynch movies in his interview as examples of movies that don’t get made anymore). The other is a lockdown movie made during Covid. There’s a lot of mask stuff and paranoia. It’s fine, but aside from Eddington, I’m just not into the pandemic being used in film.

There’s also a slip cover, a mini-poster, and the aforementioned postcards.

Overall, as usual, Visual Vengeance gives you everything you would want from a physical release.

Random Thoughts

I'm not trying to judge anyone's parenting, but Laurin looks like she's in her twenties and is still sleeping in a crib. (The actress was twelve or thirteen when this was made, to be fair, but that’s still pretty fucking old for a crib, even in weird old-timey Germany.)

Went with the dub instead of the original German. It wasn't bad. Actually, it turns out it was filmed in English, and there was a dialect coach on hand to help the actors, most of whom spoke little to no English. There is a German language track available, though, too.

The grandma right after taking a rip off her one-hitter: “Beware the evils of the city, my son.”

Based on the behavior of that entire classroom, maybe it's a good thing that some of these kids are disappearing.