BY ANDREW MOODY Nearly twenty years ago, Australian cinema threw up a prison masterpiece inspired by the bestselling memoirs of legendary murderer Mark Brandon, “Chopper” Read. A terrifying, if rather charming chap, well over six feet, covered in prison tattoos and noticeably lacking in ears, Read delighted in his jailhouse celebrity well before he was a famous writer. Chopper still allegedly holds the record for … Continue reading Chopper
BY ANDREW MOODY The left, or rather the anti-democrats, are losing, and come Halloween and Britain’s exit from the EU, they will have lost. Meanwhile, thanks be to God for Titania McGrath (AKA satirist Andrew Doyle) and her magnificent polemic WOKE, which turns the tables on the MSM culture of outrage with all its immaturity and illogicality. Titania, an upper middle class social justice warrior … Continue reading Woke
BY ANDREW MOODY In 2019, everybody is aware of William Friedkin’s horrifying 1973 movie, but few are aware that it was based on a bestselling novel. Fewer are aware that the late author William Peter Blatty claimed it was based on a true story. Whilst it is impossible to know if this boy was possessed by demons, I don’t think it is possible to know … Continue reading The Exorcist Novel
BY ANDREW MOODY During the second Gulf War, celebrity filmmaker Brian De Palma (a millionaire many times over) made a snuff film called Redacted, designed to sabotage the allied war effort. I call it a snuff film because it includes stolen military photographs of dead Iraqi citizens at the close. Suspiciously rated 15 in the UK, not only does the film unsuccessfully attempt to blame … Continue reading Redacted
BY ANDREW MOODY I’ve never seen a show self-sabotage itself quite the way Game of Thrones managed to do in its unwatchable final season, pleasing nobody and upsetting millions. Sad to see such promise let national identity politics define what was initially ground-breaking. After the dust from the belly flop has ended its first round (and the whispers begin), I realise that few are even … Continue reading Game of Drones
BY ANDREW MOODY “Across the board, identity politics endorse the concept that people are essentially tribal, and our differences are irreconcilable, which of course makes diversity and inclusion impossible. This is the toxic dead-end of identity politics; it’s a trap.” It took me a long time to read American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis’s first non fiction book WHITE, and I must confess it was … Continue reading White
BY ANDREW MOODY On April 20th 1999, in a large, non-descript school called Columbine High (Home of the Rebels) in Littleton, Colorado, one of the most notorious crimes in American history unfolded, that would define Bill Clinton’s presidency almost as much as Monica Lewinsky. Two teenage students, Eric Harris, 18 and Dylan Klebold 17, shortly after attending the prom, attacked the school with automatic weapons … Continue reading 20 Years on from Columbine
BY ANDREW MOODY Lionel Shriver is no stranger to controversy. Last year she was dropped from a Penguin short story judge panel for making “offensive” remarks on literary diversity. In a column for the Spectator in June of that month, she angrily wrote: “Drunk on virtue, Penguin Random House no longer regards the company’s raison d’etre as the acquisition and dissemination of good books. Rather, the … Continue reading We Need to Talk About Kevin
BY ANDREW MOODY Raymond Chandler is one of 1940s America’s most influential writers, most famous for his Private Detective Philip Marlowe. The High Window is the third Marlowe novel, preceded by Farewell My Lovely, and (the most famous of his Marlowe novels) The Big Sleep. It has to be said that the producers of the Humphrey Bogart movie version of The Big Sleep called Chandler … Continue reading High Window
BY ANDREW MOODY In the Irvine Welsh dominated past twenty years of football fiction (Welsh was the mentor of FOOTBALL FACTORY and ENGLAND AWAY scribe John King) violence, socialism and hard drugs have gone hand in hand with the beautiful game which is why Gareth R Roberts’ 2013 fictionalised memoir of West Ham legend Billy Parks was such a touching and refreshing read – Whatever … Continue reading Whatever Happened to Billy Parks?
BY ANDREW MOODY One sunny afternoon I was overjoyed to discover Cari Mora, the latest novel by Hannibal Lecter creator Thomas Harris, who I recently profiled for CSM. Just as Lecter could only be birthed at the dawn of the 1980’s, as Quantico desperately profiled the spate of serial killers that had begun in the wake of the Manson slayings in 1969, so only in … Continue reading Cari Mora
BY ANDREW MOODY Witty, cleverly structured, argued and written, Frank Haviland’s BANALYSIS is driven by the same exasperated tone of the TV presenter in the classic 1970s movie NETWORK. “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Once, the author hopes, just this once, the truth will finally be told about the way the world really operates. It is only easy … Continue reading Banalysis
BY ANDREW MOODY I remember my parents driving my brother and me through the Florida Everglades in 1999 and roadside shops had announcements they were stocking the new Thomas Harris novel, the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs: BUY HANNIBAL HERE! HANNIBAL LECTER RETURNS! It seems strange in today’s post-digital multimedia age that a paperback book could generate that much anticipation and interest. The … Continue reading Harris’ Hannibal
BY ANDREW MOODY In today’s “woke” culture of outrage and identity politics, there is no longer a place for satirical rapcore band The Bloodhound Gang. After forming in the early nineties, the failure of their final album Hard-Off saw the Gang finally disband in 2015. Songs like Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny, I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks, You’re Pretty … Continue reading Bloodhound Gang
BY ANDREW MOODY Hitler was a magician, a master manipulator of his own image – a criminal who organised the murder of millions and set off a world war that nearly caused the demise of mankind. Erik Larson’s 2011 NY Times non-fiction bestseller In the Garden of Beasts adds a welcome new perspective on the horrific Nazi phenomenon – a study of William E. Dodd, … Continue reading In the Garden of Beasts
BY ANDREW MOODY In Trump’s America the hashtag #CancelSouthPark is sadly a thing. I remember how it all started, back in 1998 on Channel 4 at midnight, when Channel 4 was hip and edgy, which seems a long time ago, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone were making their ascent to rock-star fame. They were amongst the first to use the internet to make themselves … Continue reading The Power of South Park
BY ANDREW MOODY This is an example of the rational if nihilistic worldview of Legion de Honour (France’s highest literary prize) winner Michel Houellecbecq from his 1994 first novel Whatever: “It’s a fact, I mused to myself, that in societies like ours sex truly represents a second system of differentiation, completely independent of money; and as a system of differentiation it functions just as mercilessly. … Continue reading Reflections on Houellebecq
BY ANDREW MOODY Yesterday’s news that TIG MPs are being thrown off select committees marks the beginning of the end for this group of “People’s Vote” campaigners. The Ex-Labour ones are already in the process of being unseated by Momentum. The Ex-Tory ones are not welcome in their own constituencies. In short, TIG is gone. Why? They are merely an extension of the EU – … Continue reading TIG is Pointless
BY ANDREW MOODY The tragic knife murder of 17 year old Girl Scout Jodie Chesney by an assailant who, without saying a word, stabbed her in the back, has sparked off a series of frenzied media reports of teen knife murders. After a young man was stabbed in Tottenham the number of murders and man slaughters in December 2018 rose to 131. This has only … Continue reading Knife Crime Truth
BY ANDREW MOODY Spike Lee’s Oscar speech was as politically charged as possible: “Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing!” He was of course referring to the 2020 presidential election around the corner and Hollywood’s desperate desire to dethrone Trump. This is no doubt why Lee – a mediocre filmmaker at best but political dynamite nonetheless – won a … Continue reading Oscars Devalued
