Riddle of Fire

In a 2024 interview with Sci-fi Now, Weston Razooli spoke about his influences for the film: "In terms of filmmakers, one would be François Truffaut, and I wanted to create my version of The 400 Blows (1959), set in the mountains of Wyoming! I also wanted an Akira Kurosawa grandiose adventure quality, sort of like The Hidden Fortress (1958), with a freewheeling, enchanted adventure of sorts, where these characters seem almost lost in the forest. I was also inspired by... The Little Rascals from the 1920's, just shows about funny kids doing funny things. Then I'd have to name the film Where Is the Friend's House? (1987) from Abbas Kiarostami. It's the simplicity of a kid trying to return a friend's notebook to his house that he can't find, and the plot of Riddle of Fire is very similar to that. I am often inspired by the literature of Robin Hood and his merry men kind of just frolicking in the forest on adventures, and Brothers Grimm as well. There's also a board game called The Enchanted Forest which I grew up playing, it has a mysterious and slightly scary quality to it. My brothers, cousins and I used to say it was sort of like Jumanji (1995) where you have to keep playing the game, or else terrible things will happen! I guess it created this thing in our imaginations, bigger than the game itself."