According to some official sources, director Michael Cimino's original cut of this movie was mutilated by producers, resulting in a very badly edited movie, filled with plot holes. The only known proof of deleted scenes are some stills which show a few of them.
Final major theatrical movie directed by Michael Cimino, as The Sunchaser (1996) primarily went direct-to-video in most territories.
According to the American Film Institute: "Interiors of the Cornell house were built at the Ventura Entertainment Center in Orem, Utah, with fully constructed rooms, instead of studio breakaway walls and false ceilings, in order to create a look and feel of claustrophobia, both for actors and viewers."
This remake of the classic The Desperate Hours (1955) was released thirty-five years later. This movie was the third English language version of the story, being released twenty-three years after the television movie version.
An interrogation scene between Chandler (Lindsay Crouse) and Breyers (Kelly Lynch) was cut from the final movie, because test audiences were convinced that the scene implied that the two are lesbians.