Innocence Lost

In 1989, German director Robert Sigl saw his debut feature Laurin suffer the horrible fate of public indifference when it went into general release. A work of poetry and subtlety during a period when the horror genre was more interested in blood and gore, it went against the grain and fell through the cracks. Despite winning its director the prestigious Bavarian Film Award as one of the Best Newcomers of the year, the film failed to launch his career as he had hoped. In the ensuing years, he found himself confined to television, where he continued to make his mark in a variety of TV programs and "gun for hire" movies for the small screen.

Innocence Lost: Robert Sigl and the Curse of Laurin allows the director to tell his own story in his own words, alongside critical commentary, analysis, and contextualization which seeks to shine a light on this obscure but undoubtedly brilliant filmmaker who may well qualify as Germany's most underappreciated cinematic artist. Given the negative impact Laurin had on its maker's career in his native film industry, one can make a persuasive case for it as an "unlucky" film-while at the same time being a remarkably accomplished and assured debut feature which should have resulted in more offers from major producers. In addition to a career-spanning interview, Innocence Lost offers plenty of behind-the-scenes stills-many from the director's private archives-and anecdotes about Laurin and Robert Sigl's many unrealized passion projects.

Author Troy Howarth, whose other credits include Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy, Assault on the System: The Nonconformist Cinema of John Carpenter, and Make Them Die Slowly: The Kinetic Cinema of Umberto Lenzi, is proud to present the first in-depth, book-length study of Robert Sigl's career. In addition to writing numerous books on "cult" cinema, Troy Howarth can also be heard on audio commentaries for over 200 films on home video.

[STANDARD EDITION - B&W INTERIOR]