The Anchor Bay DVD release was originally going to be a two-disc set, with both the famous original 100 minute cut that test audiences saw (Anchor Bay found the footage that was thought destroyed, and was going to re-edit it as close as possible to the preview version) and the theatrical 84 minute cut. Unfortunately Disney did not allow Anchor Bay to have the original cut, and only let them use the two "alternate endings" which now appear on the DVD. This explains why director John Hough referring to the movie as being finally edited the way he intended (the commentary was recorded before Anchor Bay had to drop the two-disc idea), when it actually isn't. The alternate endings, however, do provide the majority of the missing footage from the 1981 preview, save some small scenes/changes. Hough explains that "his" ending is a combination of the two alternate endings and the film's current ending.
In the Anchor Bay DVD commentary, John Hough states that Bette Davis wanted to play both Mrs. Aylwood in the present and thirty years ago. The crew shot scenes with her wearing makeup to appear younger, but she was clearly older than the character the script called for. After the cast and crew saw the dailies, Hough told Davis in private that the scene just didn't work; no one would believe her as a woman in her forties. To her credit, Davis looked Hough in the eye and said, "You're Goddamned right."
John Keller's house previously portrayed "Hill House" in the original version of The Haunting (1963) directed by Robert Wise from the novel by Shirley Jackson. The real life building is called "Ettington Park Manor" and is situated in Ettington Park in Warwickshire, England, UK.
Star Bette Davis celebrated her 50th anniversary year in the motion picture business at the world premiere of this film.
Director John Hough's audio-commentary states that Brian Clemens wrote the version of the screenplay he was most interested in directing but the Walt Disney Studios decided that this version was much too dark and hired Rosemary Anne Sisson to lighten it up in a re-write.