Director J. Lee Thompson fell ill during the making of this film, the picture was finished by second unit director, Robert C. Ortwin Jr..
The cult compound scenes is actually a Christian camp Mountain Home Desert Retreat - 6221 Sierra Highway, Santa Clarita, California, or Agua Dulce, CA. The location is open for rent with old stone rooms to stay in, buildings and a chapel. The location was also used in the 1980 TV movie The Enola Gay, movie Nightmares, along with an episode of Knight Rider.
This movie represented the eighth and penultimate of nine teamings of director 'J Lee Thompson' with star actor Charles Bronson. Prior to this movie they had made together Monsieur Saint-Ives (1976), Le bison blanc (1977), Cabo Blanco (1980), Le Justicier de minuit (1983), L'enfer de la violence (1984), La loi de Murphy (1986) and Le justicier braque les dealers (1987). After this picture, they made their final collaboration, Kinjite : Sujet tabou (1989).
The elders of this movie's religious groups are played by three stars of old Western movies, Charles Dierkop, Jeff Corey and John Ireland.
The movie has little in common with its source Rex Burns 1983 novel "The Avenging Angel" on which it is based.