Murder at the Grindhouse - available now...

Murder at the Grindhouse, my new coming-of-age murder mystery thriller novel set during the last notorious years of New York City's 42nd Street, is now available to purchase in paperback and eBook formats worldwide via Amazon.

UK Paperback 

UK eBook

USA Paperback

USA eBook

Or just search for "Murder at the Grindhouse" on your home nation's Amazon website.

Set during the dying years of the most notorious street in America: New York's 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, Murder at the Grindhouse is a coming-of-age murder mystery thriller set against a backdrop of social upheaval, the encroachment of corporate America, and a sensational killing streak. The propulsive story is told primarily through Calvin, a scorned small town zero forever chasing to catch up only to arrive too late, who is drawn to the city by a stunning, morbid mystery: who was the second body hidden inside his Aunt's funeral casket?

Calvin enters this extraordinary land of outlaw film culture and illicit freedoms as a wide-eyed innocent seeking answers and personal redemption, drawing him into a world of copycat murders, temptation, and mob intrigue. Besieged by alluring distractions, he is guided by Angela, a hard-nosed punk rocker; Carol-Ann, a jocular dancer with Broadway dreams; and their coterie of misfit friends. However, when Calvin's amateur sleuthing puts him in the middle of one too many crime scenes, Detective Armstrong begins to like him as a prime suspect for 'The Devil of The Deuce' serial killer. Will Calvin be able to peel back the layers of secrets, lies, and sordid actions to unveil horrifying truths – and at what cost to his soul?

A vivid and gleefully lurid journey through society's edge during a bygone era, Murder at the Grindhouse consumes the reader in a world populated with humorous, vibrant, and emotionally flawed personalities cast against a mix of absurd fringe fantasia and sudden danger.

Space Cop (Jay Bauman & Mike Stoklasa, 2016) Review

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“Ugh, he'll be fine. I accidentally set my gun to stun.” Years in-the-making by a band of fan favourite B-movie reviewers from the Internet, sci-fi comedy Space Cop has turned into something of a punching bag by its own creators, but is that a fair assessment?...

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Stone Cold (Craig R. Baxley, 1991) Review

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“Welcome to my slaughterhouse!” There's an out-of-control biker gang menacing the people of Mississippi and there's only one man brave enough to go undercover, the type of man who has not a dog, but a giant lizard for a pet, the sort of burly slab of beef that has no qualms about walking around in an alarmingly skimpy pair of underpants, the very breed of man who straddles a rumbling road hog and states the bleedin' obvious as if it was profound revelation – his name's Huff, Joe Huff!...

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Kids vs Aliens (Jason Eisener, 2023) Review

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“I'm tired of hearing and smelling what comes out of your face hole!” It's been a long time since the director of Hobo With A Shotgun unleashed his foul-mouthed, gore-splattered, ramped-up roar of a debut movie onto audiences, but finally the renegade filmmaker from Nova Scotia has dished up a new feature-length helping from his multi-coloured mind of madness...

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Hell Squad (Kenneth Hartford, 1986)

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“Is this a joke?” Dig this. The son of an American Ambassador in the Middle East has been kidnapped and the government wants nothing to do with it. He has a problem, and there's no-one else who can help, so he hires The A-Team … no wait, he doesn't. Indeed, his assistant figures it'd be a waste of time employing mercenaries so, using his connections in Las Vegas, he hires a gaggle of showgirls to stage the daring rescue. Yup!

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Willy's Wonderland (Kevin Lewis, 2021) Review

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“He's not trapped in here with them, they're trapped in here with him!” Nicolas Cage goes into a full-blown 'Cage Rage' against a gang of animatronic mascots in a children's party restaurant. It's like every stressed-out parent's fantasy at a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party – to rip the head off one of those bug-eyed monstrosities during one of their maddening pre-recorded melodies...!

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Hired To Kill (Nico Mastorakis & Peter Rader, 1990) Blu-Ray Review

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“Murder, blood, and paranoia are gonna make fine company where you're going; 'cos ladies, you're going to hell.” A shady American agency has grown tired of the tinpot dictator they helped elevate to power in the nation of Cypra, so they want their best man – a muscle-bound killing machine – to go undercover and help the revolutionaries spring their leader from a fortress prison. The mercenary's cover? This brute with the bulging biceps will be posing as fashion designer Cecil Thornton – a most believable ruse, to be sure!...

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The Zero Boys (Nico Mastorakis, 1986)

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“Eat your heart out, Sly.” You know how it is with so many slasher movies – pretty people making dumb decisions and splitting away from the group only to end up with a butcher knife through their face. But what if those genetically gifted college kids weren't so dumb? What if they did their utmost to stick together? What if they were armed with semi-automatics and TNT?...

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Return to Savage Beach (Andy Sidaris, 1998) Review

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“How many endings can this story have?” Over the course of 13 years, writer/director Andy Sidaris (plus his son Christian) launched a dozen 'L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies' movies into the world, and with 1998's Return to Savage Beach, an era of explosive RC toys and bared flesh came to a close. After so many movies over so many years, one might have expected the final entry to feel stale, even a little limp – but Sidaris bid adieu to the 20^th Century with a bang, certainly a familiar one, but a bang nonetheless...

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Day of the Warrior (Andy Sidaris, 1996) Review

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“Bring him in from the cold? That's real spy talk – I love it when you do that.” Having sat out the previous two entries in the 'L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies' franchise (handing the reigns over to his son), writer/director Andy Sidaris returns to wreak merry havoc across America as the buff dudes and buxom gals of 'The Agency' take on a mastermind smuggler, who just so happens to be a full-blown championship wrestler...

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Hard Hunted (Andy Sidaris, 1992) Review

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“We just go in and kick ass!” / “That's a plan.” International villain Kane returns, but this time he's not playing death games for a sense of honour, oh no, 'cos now this gun runner/all-round bad dude means business. On the hunt for his stolen Klystron Relay (essentially a key to a nuclear bomb), the buff 'n' busty agents of, er, The Agency, dive into a bombastic cat & mouse chase as the plot macguffin has a propensity to change hands almost as many times as the cast's clothing drops to the floor...

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Do Or Die (Andy Sidaris, 1991) Review

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“I have entrusted the power of death to others. I hope it wasn't a mistake.” The sixth entry in the twelve-strong 'L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies' series finds two of The Agency's top women hunted in a deadly game of revenge and honour as a villainous crime lord seeks to settle the score and notch up a win for the bad guys. But can he compete against brawn, beauty, brains, and a walking stick rocket launcher?...

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Guns (Andy Sidaris, 1990) Review

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“My bet is a Smith & Wesson beats four aces.” A crime lord nicknamed the Jack of Diamonds wants to run guns from China to South America via the Hawaiian island of Molokai, which is protected by the smart and beautiful agents of 'The Agency'. In order to lure them away to Las Vegas, he sets about assassinating members of their ranks, but now they're ready to fight back. Featuring death by toy boat, random ninjas, and a part-time magician with a strong disliking for due process, it could only be an Andy Sidaris movie...

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Savage Beach (Andy Sidaris, 1989) Review

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“A couple of sweet angels of mercy who just happen to be armed for combat.” / “Even Mother Teresa has her dark side.” In the words of writer/director Andy Sidaris “You can't not like beautiful women and explosions, if you don't, then you're a Communist” … ah, the 1980s! When he wasn't chewing on his tongue, lodged so firmly in his cheek, Sidaris was making movies in the 'Skin-emax' style, that is: guns, babes, and all sorts of shit blowing up somewhere sunny. The fourth entry in Andy Sidaris' twelve-strong 'L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies' series features the final on-screen team up for arse-kicking agents Donna and Taryn, and sees the zesty duo crash land in the middle of a hunt for missing gold on a remote Pacific island...

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Malibu Express (Andy Sidaris, 1985) Review

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“You really are a horse shit at showing emotion, but I like that in a man.” The first part (of twelve) in Andy Sidaris' “L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies” series doesn't pack the same punch as its follow-up Hard Ticket To Hawaii, but the writer/director's heady mix of beautiful babes, muscular men, brash action, and corny dialogue was clearly the state of play from the very beginning. At the heart of the somewhat baffling plot – a vague remake of the director's own 1973 début feature film Stacey – is a Private Investigator, a wealthy family, and a scheme to sell America's computer technology to the communists – and a hell of moustache...

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Picasso Trigger (Andy Sidaris, 1988) Review

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“As long as someone's selling tickets, my tail is shaking.” Following on from the giddy heights of the utterly bonkers Hard Ticket To Hawaii (1987), writer/director Andy Sidaris had found the right kind of groove to establish his 'L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies' series, and so entry number three – Picasso Trigger – sees numerous returning characters, more bared chests than you can shake a boom-erang at, a Martini distillery's worth of cockamamie riffs on James Bond, and an endless supply of exploding vehicles to rival any episode of prime time television in America's Reagan era...

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Hard Ticket To Hawaii (Andy Sidaris, 1987) Review

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“We need to figure out what just happened … let's unload and hit the jacuzzi. I do my best thinking there.” Where on earth do you start with a movie like this? From the heyday of Cinemax (or 'Skin-emax' as it was nicknamed) comes this none-more-80s explosion of exotic locations, big hair, bigger guns, rampant nudity, and a giant snake contaminated with weaponised cancer … yes, you read that right, and it's far from the only utterly insane thing that happens in this flick...

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FWOAN - the V.R. Experience...

Following on from our charity screening in May - during which we raised £350 for OCD Action - we have now released a Virtual Reality experience which takes place inside the world of Marty, the protagonist in the film. A representative from OCD Action came along on the day and has done a write-up of the event, as well as the V.R. experience, with a selection of pictures.

Check out the article HERE.

The V.R. experience can be viewed on YouTube and gives you a glimpse inside Marty's world, featuring clips from the film as well as some facts about OCD to help give a clearer picture about the condition. The V.R. experience also features a version of a pivotal scene in the film featuring Lisa Opara as Sally, which we get to see from Marty's POV.

Check out the V.R. experience HERE.

For more things FWOAN, follow us on Facebook or visit our website.

Blastfighter (Lamberto Bava, 1984) DVD Review

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“You only get peace when you can impose it.” Lamberto Bava, son of the iconic Italian filmmaker Mario Bava, never quite achieved the creative heights of his father's catalogue of cinematic treats (Mario kick started the entire giallo movement with The Girl Who Knew Too Much in 1963), but he has nonetheless carved out a recognised and beloved niche in Italian genre cinema. Macabre, Body Puzzle, A Blade in the Dark, Delirium, and particularly Demons, will all be familiar to aficionados of European exploitation movies, but whereas Demons dispensed with characterisation and any shred of plot logic in favour of scatter gun gore, Lamberto's 1984 action thriller Blastfighter crafts a character-rich story which dispenses frequent action while still keeping the viewer emotionally invested...

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The Purge: Election Year - a quick review...

What's it about?
Third entry in the dystopian near-future franchise in which America 'purges' its apparent sins by staging twelve hours of unfettered lawlessness once a year. Social divisions are stronger than ever before and there is a rising resentment for 'The Purge' itself, and with a strong contender for the White House vocally opposed to the whole event, the architects of the annual orgy of violence attempt to silence their loudest critic once and for all.
Who would I recognise in it?
Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson, and others.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
There are certain gaps in the internal logic of the entire 'Purge' idea that have been there since the beginning, and the previous two films (The Purge, and The Purge: Anarchy) have demonstrated some dunderheaded plotting at times, but after some improvements in the second film it's good to see that the third shows another upwards leap in quality. Not only does the film explore some of the side effects of the annual Purge (murder tourists, roaming body disposal etc), it also proves to be a surprisingly relevant and potent film...

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