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Listed as coming to Blu-ray in March

Laurin
A film by Robert Sigl
Germany/Hungary, 1988

Evoking Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, The Company of Wolves and the lurid cinema of Italian maestros Mario Bava and Dario Argento, Robert Sigl’s richly atmospheric, gloriously morbid and menacing Gothic chiller still yet creates a dark coming-of-age tale all its own.

With wonderful set and costume design, and superb cinematography by Nyika Jancsó, Laurin is a debut feature of remarkable confidence, style and assurance.

“An effective Gothic chiller, resonating with images of unease and sexual malaise, ripe with atmosphere and understated menace”
Nigel Burrell, Eyeball

I finally watched this last month, and it's really a wonderful film. For once, the cinematic comparisons are appropriate. At the the first three. Though the underlying subject matter is perhaps a bit darker than these comparisons might suggest. The German release has a fair amount of German-language extras, so here's hoping Second Run are able to bring these across.

this sounds right up the Second Run alley. I had no idea Miklos' son ended up being a cinematographer as well! is the film actually in German? most of the cast appear to be Hungarian, so I'm intrigued to see how this works out.

sounds like an extras job for Kat Ellinger if there ever was one

There are both German and English audio tracks available on circulating copies, I imagine Second Run will at least offer the native language track

My memory of it is even the German soundtrack is ADR’d, but the English dub, like most, isn’t very convincing. In this case though, I think the lack of location audio actually enhances the observational fairy tale feel of the film.

This is the director replying. As a matter of fact the film was completely shot in English with all the Hungarian actors performing in a language they were not in the slightest familiar with to say the least. That in itself was already an enormous achievement by my non-English-language cast. An American voice dubbing director, Larry Dolgin, then had all the voices redubbed in Rome with American voice talent. At least the lips movements did match perfectly given the fact that the dubbed lines were identical with the ones spoken.

Did DIabolikDVD beat everyone to the punch by revealing the specs of this disc? It seems a substantial package, in any case.

• The film presented in both English and German language versions.
• Interview with actor Dóra Szinetár.
• Interview with actor Barnabás Tóth.
• Interview with cinematographer Nyika Jancsó.
• Film historian Jonathan Rigby on Laurin.
• The Making of "Laurin"; – an archival documentary.
• Deleted Scenes.
• Trailer.
• Two of Robert Sigl's award-winning, unnerving short films: The Christmas Tree (Der Weihnachtsbaum, 1983) and Coronoia 21 (2021).
• Booklet featuring a new essay by film writer and critic James Oliver.
• New and improved English subtitle translation of the German language version.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C).

Glad both language options are being included. I watched it yesterday with the English audio track and thought it sounded appropriate and convincing

What A Disgrace wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:53 pm Did DIabolikDVD beat everyone to the punch by revealing the specs of this disc?

Second Run made it available for pre-order on their website some time in the last day or so, so the specs have been up there. The release date is April 3.

Vanrees wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 7:15 pm This is the director replying. As a matter of fact the film was completely shot in English with all the Hungarian actors performing in a language they were not in the slightest familiar with to say the least. That in itself was already an enormous achievement by my non-English-language cast. An American voice dubbing director, Larry Dolgin, then had all the voices redubbed in Rome with American voice talent. At least the lips movements did match perfectly given the fact that the dubbed lines were identical with the ones spoken.

wow, this is the first time a director has answered one of my questions on this forum. that's really fascinating, and sounds like it really aids the atmosphere of the film! I look forward to seeing it. are you interviewed in the on disc documentary? surprised there isn't a contribution, but it's a very loaded edition nonetheless!

here's the cover art:

Spoiler

Per usual, stellar cover art from Second Run

ryannichols7 wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 1:22 am

Vanrees wrote: Sat Feb 18, 2023 7:15 pm This is the director replying. As a matter of fact the film was completely shot in English with all the Hungarian actors performing in a language they were not in the slightest familiar with to say the least. That in itself was already an enormous achievement by my non-English-language cast. An American voice dubbing director, Larry Dolgin, then had all the voices redubbed in Rome with American voice talent. At least the lips movements did match perfectly given the fact that the dubbed lines were identical with the ones spoken.

wow, this is the first time a director has answered one of my questions on this forum. that's really fascinating, and sounds like it really aids the atmosphere of the film! I look forward to seeing it. are you interviewed in the on disc documentary? surprised there isn't a contribution, but it's a very loaded edition nonetheless!

here's the cover art:

Spoiler

Hi, ryannichols7, unfortunately there is no interview with me included.

Pre-orders now up at our webstore

Amazon UK
Arrow store
Diabolik

Great news!

For anyone else living outside the UK (and sorry if this is old news!), the international shipping on the Second Run site is very reasonable – only £4, compared with £8 and £11 to Australia from the Arrow and Amazon listings respectively.

Great news on the shipping front. Does the website also hold sales or are the SR titles only on sale whenever Arrow has their sales?

LAURIN pre-order now down to £17.99 at Amazon UK

Full details now at our website

April's 'Blu-ray of the Month' at Beaver!

"Replete with gorgeous imagery, and conveying an atmosphere at once ominous and serene, Robert Sigl’s Gothic thriller takes familiar tropes to fulfilling places.[...]
The Blu-ray presentation is exquisite, fully honouring the film’s rich colours and expressionist compositions."

An excellent new appreciation of LAURIN by Hannah McGill in the latest Sight and Sound magazine