Although this film is a work of fiction, it was inspired by the murder of Marcy Conrad, who was killed by her friend Anthony Jacques Broussard in Milpitas, California, in 1981.
Corey Haim was originally cast as Tim, but he got sick after the first day of production and had to be replaced. Joshua John Miller ended up playing this role.
Danyi Deats, playing Jamie, spends ninety percent of her screen time acting out rigor mortis in the nude. "I never considered any of the ramifications, like how horrified my family would be, or to have a theater full of people to see me naked at nineteen. But that's the beauty of being nineteen: that you don't look ahead," Deats said.