Laurin: Collector's Edition – Visual Vengeance (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: West Germany/Hungary, 1989
Director: Robert Sigl
Writers: Ádám Rozgonyi, Robert Sigl
Cast: Dóra Szinetár, Brigitte Karner, Károly Eperjes, Hédi Temessy, Barnabás Tóth

Release Date: July 28th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 83 Minutes 38 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English, Dolby Digital Stereo German
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $34.95

"Laurin is a quiet and precocious adolescent girl living in rural 1901 Germany. She voyeuristically observes the behavior of the self-absorbed grownups around her, all of them seemingly oblivious to the fact that this strange little girl is growing up alone. While her father is away at sea, her mother's violent death leaves Laurin effectively orphaned and unsupervised. Now, a murderer has begun targeting Laurin's classmates, and Laurin has begun having terrifying hallucinations of the children. The grownups are desperate to catch the killer, but they're woefully ignorant of the dark, secret world right under their noses. An evil has surfaced in their seemingly idyllic village, deeply rooted in childhood traumas and long-buried secrets...and no child is safe." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about Saurians' transfer, "Director-approved 2K HD transfer from the original 35mm film elements, complete and uncut, in both English- and German-language versions."

Laurin comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.9 GB

Feature: 16.2 GB

The source looks excellent; flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and there are no issues with digital noise reduction.

Audio: 3.5/5 (Dolby Digital Stereo English), 4/5 (Dolby Digital Stereo German)

This release comes with two audio options, a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English and a Dolby Digital stereo mix in German. While both tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced, the German track sounds fuller. Included are removable English SDH for the English language track and removable English subtitles for the German language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a Visual Vengeance trailer for Laurin (1 minute 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Laurin’s original theatrical trailer (2 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German, no subtitles), Laurin black and white stills and behind-the-scenes gallery, Laurin lobby cards and pressbook gallery, Laurin postcard gallery, Laurin technical screenplay, The Chirstmas Tree image gallery, The Christmas Tree polaroid gallery, Robert Sigl Bavarian film awards presentation (2 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with non-removable English subtitles), an archival documentary titled The Making of Laurin (10 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with film historian Jonathan Rigby (32 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for text in German), an interview with actor Barnabás Tóth (10 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for text in German), an interview with actress Dóra Szinetár (18 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for text in German), an interview with cinematographer Nyika Jancsó (15 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for text in German), an interview with director Robert Sigl (59 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German with non-removable English subtitles), two short films directed by Robert Sigl: The Christmas Tree (19 minutes 26 seconds, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital mono German with non-removable English subtitles) and Coronoia 21: It Comes with the Snow (9 minutes 54 seconds, 1.78:1 aspect ratio, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), original VHS rough cut of Laurin from Sigl’s private collection, featuring set-recorded audio allowing viewers to hear the actors’ real voices prior to overdubbing (101 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary by film historian Troy Howarth, author of Innocence Lost: Robert Sigl and the Curse of Laurin, a collectible folded mini-poster, reversible cover art featuring original home video art, limited-edition mini-postcard set reproduced from German promotional materials (limited to the first pressing), ‘Stick your own’ VHS sticker sheet (limited to the first pressing), a 6-page leaflet with an essay titled Curses and Secrets: The Hidden World of Laurin written by Tony Strauss, and an O-card slipcover (limited to the first pressing).

The Christmas Tree: A father and son hang lights on a tree for their last Christmas together.

Coronoia 21: It Comes with the Snow: A man wandering in snow-covered streets hears voices.

Other extras are Visual Vengeance trailers for American Taboo, Cyclops, and Vampire’s Embrace.

Summary:

A young girl, left alone, while her father is always at sea, is haunted by visions of missing children from her rural village.

Laurin is a folk horror film with gothic horror-infused visuals. Set at the beginning of the 19th century, Laurin’s production design does a superb job recreating that era. Laurin implies violence more than it explicitly shows, despite the sinister overtones associated with the missing children. Connected to the missing children, violence is more implied than explicitly shown.

From a production standpoint, Laurin is a film full of surprises; the most notable of these is the performances. Dóra Szinetár delivers a remarkable performance in the role of the protagonist, Laurin. Traumatized by the death of her mother and isolated by her father's long absences, she perfectly captures Laurin’s frame of mind.

Although the narrative moves at a deliberate pace, it always holds your attention as it effectively builds to a twist finale that reveals the killer's motivation. Areas where Laurin excels are its striking cinematography and its score, both of which greatly enhance the mood. Ultimately, Laurin is a well-crafted film that’s overflowing with atmosphere.

Laurin gets a solid release from Visual Vengeance that comes with a solid audio/video presentation, two short films, and a wealth of extras. Recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer