According to statements made on Twitter, director M. Night Shyamalan prepared three different cuts of the film: one that was "pure comedy," another that was "pure horror," and a final one that "fell somewhere in between."
The film's working title was "Sundowning."
Director M. Night Shyamalan used his fee from his science-fiction-adventure movie After Earth (2013) to self-produce this film. In his own words, this was "an attempt to regain artistic control" after his recent movies had been denied final cut, and were even taken away from him in post-production.
Olivia DeJonge was cast after just one audition, which was her audition tape. Apparently, director M. Night Shyamalan was so besotted with DeJonge after her first audition, he said he had found his star. He did the second audition just to see what she could do with a particular scene.