Three cameras were used to shoot the St. Patrick's Day parade before the production began. Sam Raimi shot some of this footage, which was shown to investors to secure the money to "complete" the film.
Although the film is set in New York City, it was only shot there for three days.
Given a limited theatrical release in the U.S. at Grindhouse theaters and midnight movie showings. Despite failing to recoup its costs, the video rights sales shot through the roof due to the huge demand for horror related films for the US and foreign video rental market. This ultimately led to two sequels being made, driven almost exclusively by demand from the video rental market.