The film's concept derives from a recurring nightmare the director used to have, in which he would be stalked by a predator that continually walked slowly towards him.
The time frame of the movie is intentionally kept undefined so that it resembles a dream. Some of the cars shown are from more recent times. Many appear to be from the '60s to late '80s. Early CRT television sets are shown whenever the characters are watching movies. Conflicting technology includes Yara on a device that looks like a shell compact, but she reads from it like an e-book reader and uses it as a light source at one point. Also, the girl at the beginning of the film uses a cellphone and drives a modern automobile, with several modern vehicles in view.
According to the production company, the film's budget was $1.3 million and was shot entirely in the state of Michigan for tax advantages. A year after its theatrical release, it grossed over $20 million.
(at around 9 mins) The theatre featured at the beginning of the film is the Redford Theatre, a historic Japanese-style theatre with a fully-functioning Wurlitzer organ, in the Old Redford neighborhood of Detroit, MI. The Evil Dead (1981) premiered there.
Not only do the set props prevent the viewer from placing the year, the clothing prevents the viewer from placing the time of year. Throughout the film's short duration clothing ranges from coats, jackets, t-shirts and swimsuits during the day, to barely anything at all at night... all outdoors, with no signs of discomfort.
Disasterpeace: (at around 49 mins) The composer of the soundtrack plays the announcer in the high school where Jay is searching for Hugh.