Buck Naked Arson (2001)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Amy Snow

Writer:

Amy Snow (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Some things are better done naked.

Plot:

In the vein of "The Breakfast Club", four teens head to the forest to celebrate grad night and end up with more than hang overs when they are detained by the Ranger on charges of arson. |

Plot Keywords:

Teen | Coming Of Age | Independent Film

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Rider Strong	...	Willy
Azura Skye	...	Janey
Christine Lakin	...	Becca
William Russ	...	Ranger Lightcap
Shiloh Strong	...	Grant
Gabrielle Fitzpatrick	...	Audry
Darcy Martin	...	Firefighter
J.C. Carvajal	...	Officer Reilly
Joseph M. Hallisy	...	Fire Chief
Amy Snow	...	Shuttle Girl

Also Known As:

Eyes of Fire; Feel the Heat (USA) (DVD title)
Grad Night

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content.

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Sebastopol, California, USA

Company:

Redwood Shire Productions

Well, it's not exactly Citizen Kane, but it's a good way to spend an hour and a half.

Starts out with a teenage boy running around naked in the woods in the midst of a forest fire. An overzealous forest ranger, who loses his big pay bonus and vacation because of the fire in his forest is determined to find out which of the four teens did it and send the right one to jail. In his interrogation, the full story of the night comes out about these kids' graduation night and the relationships between them.

Interesting concept for a film. A very typical story of self realization, love and growing up, but done from a rather different plot set up. The film is very funny, which might disappoint those who looked at the posters and the video case which suggest that this is some sort of horror or action film. Still, despite some misleading advertising, the writing is very funny and realistic. The characters are believable as teenagers, and the conversations actually make sense.

It's also a great film for anyone who grew up on ABC family comedies, as most of the cast seems to have been pulled from those old shows. I rented the movie because I was curious to see a movie from Rider Strong, former co-star from the ABC show Boy Meets World. I was not aware, however, that the film also featured Rider's older brother Shiloh (seriously, who names their kids Rider and Shiloh?), William Russ, the father from Boy Meets World, and Christine Lakin from Step by Step. These actors prove that they are capable of more than just the cheesy melodrama of the sitcoms they grew up on. Granted, there were quite a few melodramatic scenes in this film, but they still showed that they could shine in something more mature and adult. I personally didn't even recognize Lakin until half way through the film (although this might have had something to do with the fact that I watched her grow up as a tomboy on TV and, in this film, she plays more of a "perfect little princess" type girl).

There are definitely flaws in this film. It does get a little melodramatic, as I've said before, and the camera keeps doing this annoying tilt thing that I'm assuming the director thought would make this look like a crime film or something, but it really just looked dumb. It's certainly not some sort of great cinematic achievement, but it's also not a waste of your time or money. Rent it, watch it, it is certainly a good time.