The town Sonny moves to is Stillwater, when she enters the town the sign states Stillwater's neighboring towns are Pertwilla and Poho. Both of those towns were places in Victor Salva's other movie Olhos Famintos (2001).
Victor Salva wanted Gina Philips played Sonny Blake, even Salva adapted the character based on Philips' personality, but the role was ultimately awarded to Rose McGowan, due to Gina Philips being exclusively at her motherhood when production started.
In an August 2011 interview, Rose McGowan talked about her experience working with director Victor Salva, who is a convicted child molester and child pornographer, stating, "I still don't really understand the whole story or history there, and I'd rather not, because it's not really my business. But he's an incredibly sweet and gentle man." Salva was convicted of sexual misconduct in 1988 for sexually abusing Nathan Forrest Winters, the 12-year-old star of Máscaras do Terror (1989), and videotaping one of the encounters in which he forced Winters to perform oral sex on him. Several videos and photos of a sexual nature of Brian McHugh, another Clownhouse actor, were also found in Salva's house, but the boy's parents wouldn't let him get involved in the case.
The project was initially announced in 1999.