Crazy8s: “My Mother the Zombie”: Teenage Lust in Threatening Overdrive Meets Mother Zombie

Running since 1999, Crazy8s is an annual 8-day short filmmaking challenge providing support and funding to 6 emerging and mid-career filmmakers to produce a short film and provides training opportunities to crew and cast. After a Gala Screening and Afterparty, the films go on to be seen by audiences worldwide at film festivals and on other distribution channels.

Kiera (Sophie Thom) is a shy 14-year-old teen unsure of herself often nervously scratching her nail polish off her fingers. Is the shyness a result of her mother being a zombie? Zombies require fresh meat and Kiera goes hunting for mother zombie’s dinner by shooting birds with a slingshot.

In this short mother zombie can be said to be hunting for Kiera and she’s really going to satisfy her appetite for some time.

Thom earns her chops as an actress here including some captivating facial expressions, professionalism seemingly well beyond her 14 years.

Screening at Crazy8s’ Gala on 29March2025 in Vancouver.

Directed by Samantha Pineda and written by Loretta Seto.

RKS Canadian Short Film Rating 91/100.

You can see the full slate of Crazy8s’ shorts at their 29March2025 gala in Vancouver.

Watch the trailer here https://crazy8s.film/films/my-mother-the-zombie/

RKS 2025 Wine: Bargain Priced Portuguese Wine: Evel Tinto from the Douro

The Evel “brand” was born in 1913.

The grapes in this Evel Tinto are from three different quintas two of which are cool climate and the third warm climate. It is a blend of Tinta Roriz (30%), Touriga Franca (30%), Tinta Barroca (30%) and Touriga Nacional (10%). Fermentation was in stainless steel vats and was aged in French oak vats for eight months prior to bottling.

At $14.95 what quality can it deliver? Plenty.

Aroma: Raspberry, black cherry, dried cranberry, blueberry with discrete oak notes.

Palate: Creeping but gentle tannins. Smooth with just the tiniest edge to it particularly on its moderately long finish. Strawberry and raspberry with just a hint of raspberry jam. The wine on the palate seems more leaning towards excellent structure as opposed to a plenitude of fruits.

Personality: Smooth operator I am. Not elegant just smooth and easy down the hatch.

Food Match: Cod in a tomato sauce with onions, garlic, capers and olives. Perhaps with the never-ending number of recipes in Portugal for bacalhau perhaps what is described above can be a bacalhau! Red wine with fish? Certainly, with many bacalhau variations!

Cellarbility: Consume in 2025.

Price: $14.95 CDN.

RKS 2025 Wine Rating: 88/100. Wine Align community score 88.

(Evel Tinto 2021 Douro, Douro D.O.C., Real Companhia Vela, V.N.D.G, Portugal, 750 ml, 13.5%).

(Poetry Break): It is Rude to Mock Those with Dementia

We must not mock those suffering from dementia
I caught a clip of some comedian hawking virtual cards about the orange toad
Had a great laugh about the mocking of a twit specializing in bankruptcy and failed coups
like a kamikaze pilot taking out the enemy
then
someone told me this was not a joke
Not a Saturday Night Live Skit
but a real live twit
Isn’t it time to realize
perhaps
that this man
needs some help
but suggest that and millions of followers
will begin to yelp
man it is obvious this international embarrassment is in dire need of help!
A performer in “Nightmare Alley” ?

Robert K. Stephen

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film: “The Dogs”: A Suggestive Brain May Be Popping Around Like Popcorn Watching This One

Perhaps my brain has popped around just a bit too much and after reviewing 200 films yearly how do you think your brain would be?

Of late many “horror movies” are more suggestive of the horror of mental illness than in ghoulish figures and spooky noises. Think of “Chucky” or “Freddy”. Both meet the definition of mental illness so are most horror movies but an analysis of severe mental illness?

Take for example the Canadian film “The Dogs”. Set in what some residents of Wolf Hollow in Northern Ontario call a haunted farmhouse in the isolated countryside. Yep, if it is not some isolated cabin in the woods why not an isolated farmhouse in the countryside?

City dweller Katherine Weaver (Kathleen Munroe) thinks she sees a car running outside her residence yet again believing it is her ex-husband who is a bit off although how much so who knows at this early point in the movie. She packs up like a streak of lightning dragging along sulky and moody teenage son Cameron (Donavan Colan) off to the countryside to escape her ex.

Mother and son rent a deserted and ramshackle farmhouse in Wolf Hollow through the services of realtor Ken Armstrong. Guess what? Cameron is terrified when he sees and hears mighty strange things. You viewers may be terrified especially when the story unfolds revealing brutal murder(s) and fatal dog attacks. And those salivating nasty dogs will give you the heebie jeebies.

No one believes Cameron when he tells them what he has seen and heard similar to many victims of horror who are often poo pooed. His stories sound far fetched and when he is not believed he becomes wildly aggressive and it is logical to think he has lost it. After all, his mother alludes to certain issues with her ex and frets to Cameron, “This is how it starts.”

Cameron secretly calls his father who in a cheerful manner hints Cameron’s mother is a bit off and given her quick flight seemingly irrational. Yes, she is a bit odd. Your brain is faced with the possibility any of Cameron, his father and mother are mentally ill. My take was Cameron is off the rails as after all he is under great emotional stress not having a happy mom and dad and by the way prior to arriving at Wolf Hollow has been suffering nightmares. This possible creep of Cameron’s mental illness caused chills to run down my spine.

You will conclude there is indeed mental illness in the Weaver family but you’ll have to watch the film to find out who it is.

A tale of brutal murder and nasty salivating canines. A guessing game who should be classified under the DSM manual. A thriller? A whodunit? A classic horror movie or a nouveau horror movie with its mental illness angle?

In Canada a broadcast premiere and availability on demand at Hollywood Suite on 26March2025.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film Rating 88/100.

Directed by Valerie Buhagiar.

Crazy 8’s: Film is Like a Box of Chocolates: W7éyle (Moon’s Wife)

Running since 1999, Crazy8s is an annual 8-day short filmmaking challenge providing support and funding to 6 emerging and mid-career filmmakers to produce a short film and provides training opportunities to crew and cast. After a Gala Screening and Afterparty, the films go on to be seen by audiences worldwide at film festivals and on other distribution channels.

Crazy 8 shorts are like a box of chocolates as in Forest Gumpian fashion you never quite know what you will get but you know it will be sweet.

W7éyle (Moon’s Wife) is as good as a syrupy cherry enclosed in milk chocolate.

An indigenous Secwépemc woman (Grace Dove) recounts the story of the Moon’s Wife to her lover Greg (William Belleau). This Indigenous tale has the Moon’s lover journey far into the sky to be with the Moon but an argument ensues between them and the Moon affixes her to the moon where she laments her inability to return to her people. A tragedy is only a tragedy if a culture places importance of being with your fellow humans.  

Greg fails to comprehend the woman’s lament that living forever and being stuck on the moon would deprive her of being with her people. She respects the cycle of life from birth to death and sees death as an opportunity to be amongst her ancestors not an occurrence to be fearful of.

On the market there is an immortality pill which Greg believes will enable him and the woman to be together forever. She is no advocate of the Ethical Suicide Parlour but perhaps more of a Billy the Poet contemplated in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Welcome to the Monkey House” as she views death as part of the cycle of life which she embraces at least in theory. But offered this immortality pill what is her choice?

An intriguing melding of science fiction and fantasy with Indigenous culture. No cultural hard sell here but highly effective and entertaining.

Directed and written by Amanda Wandler.

Watch the trailer here https://crazy8s.film/films/w7eyle-moons-wife/

Screening at the Crazy8’s gala in Vancouver 29March2025.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Short Film Rating 92/100.

The 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival: “Sticks and Stones-Unmasking the Truth of Cyberbullying”

TIDF was a wrap on 16March2025 but I have a couple more documentaries left in my review basket such as “Sticks and Stones-Unmasking the Truth of Cyberbullying” from Australia and Greece.

I can’t see this as a classic documentary but rather an educational video directed towards parents of children active on social media.

Cyberbullying is often the perfect crime. Create a fake account as 75% of Australian teens admit to doing and you can harass, intimidate, threaten, demean, mock and it is anonymous.

I recall many years ago, was it in grade three, where three boys of my age hung around the school after school to engage me in a fight. Three against one cowardly! But I held my own. I knew them. It was face to face bullying. It was in the physical world where sticks and stones exist unlike cyberbullying where the bully is wearing a mask of anonymity. Without involved parents, mentors or teachers offering support the victim is alone. In cyberbullying there is a bully, bystanders and a target.

As adults we are aware of the destructive psychological and physical effects of cyberbullying and on occasion a psychologically battered victim takes their life.

This production adds value to the explanation of cyberbullying particularly through interview quips with Evelyn M. Field a psychologist and Maria Gindidis a Principal, Senior Lecturer and Director Unit Quality and Teacher Enhancement at Monash University.

Recently here in Toronto there has been a push to ban the use of cell phones in classrooms. What caught my ear was an interview of a teacher who explained a student without a phone was like an addict without a drug. Gindidis reminds us social media for a child is an integral part of their world and their reality unlike for many adults where it is seen as separate from their identity.

Although more of an educational video it is worth a watch. As Bully Zero in Australia assisted in the production you might want to check out their website https://www.bullyzero.org.au/

Directed by Georgios Goris.

Canadian and American Border Towns Establish Canadian and American Friendship League (CANAMF): Sick and Tired of the Rhetoric: Salmonlips, British Columbia; Spoof News Services: 20March2025  

A joint press conference convened by the mayors of border towns Salmonlips, British Columbia and Rainallthetime, Washington convened a press conference earlier today at the Swill Motor Inn in Salmonlips.

The mayor of Salmonlips, Reginald Twittle and the mayor of Rainallthetime, Sally Tubbs took to the podium to address representatives of the press meaning Spoof News Services only.

Reginald Twittle issued the following statement, “Here in Salmonlips all citizens have a close relationship with our friends in Rainallthetime. We are border towns located a 3 -minute walk from each other. We have been crossing back and forth from country to country for generations. The citizens of both towns marry each other. We exercise our democratic rights and sip coffee at Tim Hortons in Salmonlips or at the Dunkin Donuts in Rainallthetime as our preferences dictate. We have town hockey teams that play at our Pat Burns Memorial Arena here in Salmonlips and we play our baseball over at Obama Baseball Field in Rainallthetime. You get the point. We Canadians live in harmony with our American neighbours and we want to maintain that relationship.

Our friendship requires memorialization with the establishment of a Canadian and American Friendship League (CANAMF) to act as a bulwark of safety and peace threatened by the Great Tariff War raging between the United States and Canada. CANAMF will be a fraternal and not a political entity.”

Sally Tubbs lumbered up to the podium and issued her statement, “I can’t add much more to what Mayor Twittle has told you. Some of our politicians in this country have been nutso for years stirring the manure so as to speak and it stinks to high heaven. Canadian politicians have stepped in and have inflamed the situation with nationalism. I want to shop at COSTCO in Salmonlips and Mayor Twittle has told me he wants to shop at Kroegers in Rainallthetime. I want to buy my Ozempic at Shopper’s Drug Mart in Salmonlips. This is called freedom of choice.

I am going to give you an example of the sheer nonsense. You know about all that fentanyl leaking from Canada into the United States. We have two Indian restaurants each one on a different side of the border but owned by the same family. Last week the United States Border Services announced a major seizure of fentanyl very close to our town. Well, an employee of the Indian restaurant in Salmonlips crossed over to deliver some MSG powder to our Indian restaurant in Rainallthetime. American border agents seized the MSG announcing a huge fentanyl bust. Hysteria indeed! Then the Canadians in their fancy Blackhawk copters arrested the poor MSG mule labelling him an illegal immigrant threatening the security of Canada.

We shall be working throughout the coming weeks to develop a non-political “manifesto” of how to preserve the friendship of Salmonlips and Rainallthetime.”

Spoof will continue monitoring this developing situation. We remind you it was Spoof at this press conference and not CNN, CBC or Fox. Bringing you the real news you need to know!

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: A Canadian Pinot Noir Hanging with the Best of Them

Henry of Pelham in Niagara, Ontario can be relied on for consistency and quality. HP is one of the few wineries mastering Baco Noir the Heartbreak Grape in terms of results.

We try a CANADIAN Pinot Noir frequently referred to as a Heartbreak Grape but my vote in that regard may be swayed to Baco Noir.

Aroma: Strawberry, raspberry, bright red cherry and a touch of cherry Jello. Discrete oak.

Palate: Very nice (my English teacher said never use the word “nice”) oak framework that melds spectacularly fruit influences veering towards dried fig, raspberries on steroids and boastful red cherry. What is the expression I am looking for? Muscular and highly disciplined in a straitjacket of near perfection. A long slightly raspy finish.

Personality: Big and confident enough to lead the Niagara-on-the-Lake Canada Day parade as grand Marshall. You might even try me with a slice of pinkie cake in the park that we follow the cake to! Yes the cake is the star of the parade.

THE CAKE on parade! (Photo Robert K. Stephen)

Food Match: If you would rather skip sipping this wine with the pinkie cake in the park, without offending the mayor of course, enjoy with short ribs at Treadwell in NOTL. This Pinot has the gumption to pair with beef perhaps even a lowly burger at the Harp Irish Pub on King Street with its Buffaloish vibe.

Cellarbility: Push limits to the end of 2027.

Price: $28 CDN.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating:  92/100.Decanter Magazine 92.

(Henry of Pelham Family Estate Pinot Noir 2020, VQA Short Hills Bench, Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery, St, Catharines, 750 mL, 13.5%)

RKS 2025 Wine:  2015 Quinta do Mondego: Ready for the Retirement Home!

Is this 2015 Quinta do Mondego ready for the retirement home? Roger Voss of the Wine Enthusiast is my go-to wine writer and when it is Portuguese wine in the glass we almost always agree with descriptors and scores. He reviewed the wine 31December2023 giving it a 92 noting it could drink through 2027.

Its murkiness almost equals a write off unless of course it might be unfiltered wine.

The aroma still retains a good deal of blackberry but the blueberry has gone sour and the stewed rhubarb which one can discern in some Port is out of sync here. The tannins are enormous barricading the fruits’ appearance. Chalky and brackish.

This wine has slid far down from a Roger Voss 92. Wines from the Dão rarely disappoint but this wine has outstayed its welcome. It should be retired from active service.

Man, who is responsible for quality control at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario?

Return to sender.

27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival: “Sculpted Souls”: Multi Award Winner

TIDF ran from 6-16 March2025.

The Greek documentary “Sculpted Souls” by Stavros Psillakis won The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation Award, the FIPRESCI Award and the Youth Jury Award for the Best Greek Film.

“Sculpted Souls” describes the journey of Swiss dentist Julien Grivel who travelled to Athens twice yearly from 1972-1998 volunteering to repair the teeth of lepers. Leprosy is now referred to in medical circles as Hansen Disease and its sufferers Hansenites. Norwegian doctor Gerhard Hansen proved in 1874 leprosy was not a hereditary disease but an infectious one.

We travel along with Grivel in Greece as he reminisces about those he has met and the stories that they have told of suffering while maintaining their dignity society did not afford them.

Epaminodas Remoundakis (1914-1978) one of Grivel’s patients and friends

As we encounter his patients none express a sense of hopelessness but rather of existing with pride and fortitude. Grivel is grateful for his encounters with the Hansenites remarking their stories and attitudes gave him a sense of calmness and courage to face his cancer diagnosis. Grivel’s view is that without bitterness in your life there can be no real victory. To be human is always being in a beneficial relationship with other humans without crushing or humiliating them. Through his interactions he began to appreciate the beauty of so many of his patients. They lived in the shadows but they stood upright. They taught him courage, to ignore the petty things in life and not to fear death.

Through his dialogues with former patients and archival footage of them we are told about the treatment of leprosy in Greece including the “medical and social prison” of Spinalonga which operated from 1904-1957 and the more modern Varvara Infectious Disease Hospital in Egaleo, Attica.

If there is anything summing up the philosophy of Grivel it is when he is in a library established in honour of one of is patients saying,” I love libraries because we see so many different and contradictory worlds co-existing with each other”.

RKS 2025 Documentary Film Rating 88/100.