John Llewellyn Probert

Cheers! I hope the stories in mine raise a smile or two!

Dark Winds Seasons 1 - 3 (2022 - 2025) Acorn International Media are releasing seasons 1 - 3 of the acclaimed Navajo Nation crime series on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital. Seasons 1 & 2...

Season 3 of the excellent crime show Dark Winds is released on Monday, along with a box set of the entire show @aimpublicity.bsky.social : johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2026/01/dark...

We Bury the Dead (2025) Signature Entertainment are releasing writer-director Zak Hilditch's latest post-apocalyptic drama (he made the emotional endurance test tha...

"...comes across like one of zombie genre progenitor George A Romero's equally concerned movies like THE CRAZIES" The new film from the director of THESE FINAL HOURS is out from @signatureuk.bsky.social a week today: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2026/01/we-b...

Magnus & John's Most Haunted reboot has not been picked up by Netflix.

Snakes on a Plane 4K (2006) A glorious example of the type of film Roger Corman used to make and that the Italians used to rip off with equal gusto, Arrow Films are...

"Ludicrous, over the top nonsense" SNAKES ON A PLANE gets a 4K release from Arrow on Monday: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2026/01/snak...

Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025) "Tremendous, Gory, Action-Packed Entertainment" Following its UK cinema release late last year, Finnish writer-director Jalmari Helander's...

"...could be considered a feature length live action Road Runner movie par excellence" SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE is now out on digital from Sony. Here's what I thought, plus details of SISU's tie-in hamburger. Yes, hamburger: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2026/01/sisu...

Awww thanks my friend! Too kind!

Up for pre-order is the paperback edition of my long out of print hardback collection Made for the Dark. This new version contains:
Four extra stories!
New story notes and introductions!
A picture of me on the telly on the front!
Goodness me how can you resist? blackshuckbooks.co.uk/made-for-the...

Just started watching the Vinegar Syndrome Sato sets!

The Assassination Bureau (1969) Arrow Films start the year with a winner with their new Blu-ray of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph's THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU, which feature...

"A cheerful, colourful film about organised murder" Time to crack on with 2026's reviews as Arrow brings THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU to UK Blu-ray: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...

The Top Ten Films of 2025 It's that time again! Regular readers will know this isn't actually a top ten list, rather it's more a recommended viewing list of films tha...

A Boxing Day tradition - now in its 13th year! Get ready to read about films you've likely never heard of as House of Mortal Cinema presents its Top Ten Films of 2025! : johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-...

Magnus has found a new cemetery. Now he'll want me to write a story about him in it. Oh all right then...

Re-animator 4K (1985) "Fantastic 4K Restoration of an All-Time Classic" Second Sight have produced a gorgeous, extras-packed edition of Stuart Gordon's classi...

Still marvellous after all these years. Stuart Gordon's REANIMATOR gets the posh 4K treatment from @secondsightfilms.bsky.social and it looks fantastic @aimpublicity.bsky.social: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/12/re-a...

ZARDOZ remains one of my all-time favourites. I've seen it a lot more times than STAR WARS!

Whispering Smith Hits London 4K (1952) It's time for another British movie obscurity to get the posh 4K UHD and Blu-ray treatment from Hammer studios, from the period when they sp...

'Another classy presentation from Hammer' as WHISPERING SMITH HITS LONDON hits 4K: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/12/whis...

Magnus of the Stones!

Dracula (2025) "A Unique Interpretation" A quite bizarre melding of elements from Francis Ford Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (which this film leans o...

"Everyone will be scratching their heads at why Dracula has an unexplained army of comedy gargoyle minions" My thoughts on Luc Besson's new DRACULA, out Monday from @signatureuk.bsky.social : johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/drac...

Primitive War (2025) "More Fun than JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH" Signature Entertainment are giving a much-deserved cinema release to PRIMITIVE WAR, a low budget...

"Faster moving and a lot more fun than JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH". PRIMITIVE WAR is out in UK cinemas from Friday from @signatureuk.bsky.social : johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/prim...

The Life of Chuck (2025) "Moving, Uplifting, and Quite, Quite Lovely" After a short stint in UK cinemas, Studio Canal have released writer-director Mike Flanagan...

"Quite, quite lovely." My thoughts on THE LIFE OF CHUCK which is out now on disc from Studio Canal: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...

Excellent! We tried to go up the tower when we stayed but they wouldn't let us!

A Desert (2025) "Filled with Insidious Menace" Blue Finch are releasing director Joshua Erkman's A DESERT, a film that could sit comfortably alongside R...

"Conveys a sense of creeping dread pretty much from the outset" Grim noir A DESERT is out on Monday on digital : johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-de...

Horror of Frankenstein 4K (1970) Studio Canal are releasing a 4K transfer of the one Hammer Frankenstein not to feature Peter Cushing as the Baron. It was originally release...

"the Baron...looks about as upset as someone who has just received an especially large and unexpected gas bill." Studio Canal follow up their 4K of the SCARS OF DRACULA with its originally double-billed Frankenstein film, out Monday: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/horr...

Scars of Dracula 4K (1970) Studio Canal leap in before Hammer to be the first to release a 4K transfer of one of the studio's Dracula movies. Admittedly it's the one...

"Whoever thought we'd get to see Bob Todd in 4K?" The first Hammer Dracula to get the 4K treatment is out Monday: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/scar...

Dark Star 4K (1974) Fabulous Films are bringing out John Carpenter's (and Dan O'Bannon's) DARK STAR, in both limited edition 4K UHD website exclusive and stan...

"...scruffy astronauts bickering, dancing, getting bored and working in one of the most claustrophobic and cramped control rooms ever committed to celluloid." John Carpenter's DARK STAR gets the 4K (!) treatment from Fabulous Films: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/dark...

Adulthood (2025) Signature Entertainment are releasing director Alex 'BILL & TED' Winter's black comedy that veers more towards the black than the comedy. ...

"An entertaining dark comedy that features useless (Noah), desperate (Meg) and just plain mad (Bodie) characters being thrown into a situation where no-one acts rationally" Alex Winter's ADULTHOOD is out on digital today : johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/adul...

Men of Sherwood Forest (1954) "Terrific Stuff for Fans" Hammer continues its invaluable series of extras-packed 4K restoration releases with this three disc set devot...

"Terrific stuff for fans of Robin Hood movies and British cinema in general." Hammer's MEN OF SHERWOOD FOREST is out next Monday: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/men-...

Maxxxine 4K UHD (2024) Second Sight Films are releasing, in both limited and standard 4K UHD editions, the final film in writer-director Ti West's 'X' trilogy. The...

"...a movie where restraint has gone firmly out of the window." Ti West's MAXXXINE gets the posh 4K @secondsightfilms.bsky.social box set treatment, out on Monday @aimpublicity.bsky.social : johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/maxx...

Pearl 4K UHD (2022) ''Ti West and Mia Goth's Best (So Far)?" Second Sight Films are releasing both standard and posh whistles and bells 4K UHD editions of P...

"...unlike any other movie from this decade, and perhaps even this century." Ti West's (and Mia Goth's) PEARL gets the 4K whistles and bells @secondsightfilms.bsky.social treatment, out next Monday @aimpublicity.bsky.social : johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/pear...

A Mother's Embrace (2025) "Seriously Decent Brazilian Horror" After its world premiere at Sitges followed by its UK premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in March...

"...cultivates an admirable atmosphere of creeping strangeness for over half its runtime" Really rather good Brazilian horror A MOTHER'S EMBRACE is out on Digital on Monday: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-mo...

The Mask (1994) Arrow Video are releasing, in limited edition Blu-ray and UHD sets, a 4K restoration from the original camera negative of the film that ceme...

"...a 1930s animated short given a live action 1990s makeover" THE MASK gets a 4K release from Arrow on Monday: johnlprobert.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...