Development Curtis Hanson got to know
Roger Corman while doing re-writes on
The Dunwich Horror (1970), which Corman had helped finance. Corman had a track record of giving opportunities to first time directors and was setting up his own distribution company, New World Pictures. When
Dunwhich Horror was finished, Hanson told Corman he wanted to direct a film he had written; Corman said he would be interested in financing a motorcycle movie, a women in prison movie or a nurses movie. Hanson was unenthusiastic, so Corman then said he might also be interested in a modern horror film along the lines of
Psycho (1960). Hanson wrote the script originally with the killer as a female. Corman liked it but felt it was "a little too different" for the killer to be female so asked she be turned male. The producer, Tamara Asseyev, was Corman's former assistant. According to Hanson, the film cost $130,000 and Corman was supposed to put up two-thirds of the money. A couple of weeks before filming started Hanson says Corman "reneged on the deal and said he would only put up one-third of the money. My producing partner and I had to raise the other two-thirds. To show how foolhardy I was, I went to my parents and persuaded them to put a mortgage on their home in order to finance this film."
Shooting Filming took place in 1971. The apartment where Tab Hunter's character lived in Venice was owned by Hanson's grandmother. ==Releases==