Danielle Harris (Tosh) was a smoker at the time and thrilled to be allowed to smoke while working. She quickly realized that shooting scenes while smoking meant that she was going to have to smoke cigarettes for hours all day while they shot. She eventually got sick of it and quit smoking.
The killer's outfit is based on the fact that the film was originally planned to be set in the middle of winter. When the weather was too warm, it was decided to drop the winter aspect of the storyline, rather than fake the snow in all the outdoor scenes, and dress all of the extras in winter outfits, but they kept the killer's costume.
The SUV driven in the beginning was originally supposed to be a Land Rover. It was changed to the Ford Expedition, the largest 4x4 available at the time, because the filmmakers discovered they couldn't swing an axe inside of a Land Rover.
Sarah Michelle Gellar accepted the role of Sasha, but had to back out due to schedule conflicts with Buffy, la cazavampiros (1997).