Director J. Lee Thompson fell ill during the making of this film, the picture was finished by second unit director, Robert C. Ortwin Jr..
The cult compound scenes is actually a Christian camp Mountain Home Desert Retreat - 6221 Sierra Highway, Santa Clarita, California, or Agua Dulce, CA. The location is open for rent with old stone rooms to stay in, buildings and a chapel. The location was also used in the 1980 TV movie The Enola Gay, movie Nightmares, along with an episode of Knight Rider.
This movie represented the eighth and penultimate of nine teamings of director 'J Lee Thompson' with star actor Charles Bronson. Prior to this movie they had made together St. Ives (1976), The White Buffalo (1977), Cabo Blanco (1980), 10 to Midnight (1983), The Evil That Men Do (1984), Murphy's Law (1986) and Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987). After this picture, they made their final collaboration, Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989).
The elders of this movie's religious groups are played by three stars of old Western movies, Charles Dierkop, Jeff Corey and John Ireland.
The movie has little in common with its source Rex Burns 1983 novel "The Avenging Angel" on which it is based.