Did You Know?

Three endings were shot, and a different one shown at each theater. All three are included on video. The DVD, however, aside from all three endings, also offers the option to play the movie with one randomly selected ending. In some cities, the newspaper print ads indicated which version ("Ending A", "Ending B" or "Ending C") was being shown at each theater.

There are few departures from the original board game; in the movie the hall has been transformed into part of the playing board and has been replaced by the front doors. This was probably done so that the rooms didn't have to stand alone.

Differences in two weapons in the film include that the revolver in the board game is most commonly a pepperbox revolver (an early 1800s revolver with the six bullet chambers jutting out from the main gun parts). However, it is changed to a regular .38 caliber revolver to possibly keep up with the modern time period the film is set in. The lead pipe in the game was also bent at an angle, to emphasize the fact that it was (possibly) used in Mr. Boddy's murder; the film shows it completely straight.

The mansion in the movie, "Hill House", was named after the producer of the movie, Debra Hill.

The screams heard when the characters rush to the maid in the billiard room are not from the actress playing the maid. They are from the actress playing Miss Scarlett, from the scenes where the dead body of the cook and the live body of Wadsworth fall out of the meat locker.

The color of each characters car is the same color as their playing piece in the game.

The actor playing Mr. Boddy is the front man of the punk rock band Fear, and was chosen because his name is Lee Ving - Mr. Boddy will be 'LeaVing' soon.

The line "And monkey's brains, although popular in Cantonese cuisine, are not often to be found in Washington DC" appears in two of the filmed endings.

The murder scenes from the movie are an adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians.

The song Yvette is dancing to in the beginning of the film, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" is the version recorded by Bill Haley & The Comets, only it is sped up with the pitch increased. This trick was also used in Airplane! in which the BeeGees song "Stayin' Alive" is also played in a sped up version.

In an interview conducted in November 2009, Jonathan Lynn stated that he had cast the film himself. He said that whilst actors were recommended to him via the casting department, it was his final decision on whom he would cast. His original choice for Wadsworth was British actor Leonard Rossiter, most famous for the role of Rigsby in Rising Damp, but he sadly passed away in 1984 just prior to pre-production, he was followed by Rowan Atkinson who was well known in England for his roles in Not the Nine O'Clock News and The Black Adder, but the studio felt he was to unknown to American audiences to be the leading actor in an American Production. Ironically Atkinson would go on to huge success with his character Mr. Bean in America some years later. Jonathan Lynn had known Tim Curry since they were teenagers, and personally asked him to be in the film.

John Cleese was considered for the role of Wadsworth.

Mrs. Peacock's car is a Packard.

The film takes place in "New England," as revealed in the opening scenes. Soon after, Miss Scarlet is picked up by Professor Plum and explains that she is on her way to Hill House, which is "off Route 41." In real-life New England, there is a Route 41 that spans the northwestern section of Connecticut, continuing through the southwestern section of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So, Hill House, story-wise, is located in either of these two New England states.

After the production concluded, the mansion set was bought by the producers of Dynasty, who used it as The Carlton Hotel.

Originally, there were endings in which each character killed off everyone once, and then the ending where they all did it. However, the final cut would have made the movie over two and a half hours, and director Lynn thought it to be excessive, hence the three endings that are in the final cut.

There was actually a fourth ending scripted and shot, in which Wadsworth committed all the murders out of a twisted need for perfection in his life. He reveals that he poisoned everyone with a slow-acting toxin in their drinks. It ended with Wadsworth being killed by dogs as he attempted to escape by car from the house. The rather grim nature of the ending is probably why it was never released. It was never shown because the film makers thought the ending would have been too obvious - it only survives in the novelization and the storybook, which features but a single photo from that ending (the Chief punching Wadsworth in the stomach).

When Wadsworth cuts the power to the house during his solving of the mystery, it represents the point of divergence of the three endings.

In Ending A, there is a discussion between Wadsworth, who believes the Revolver had been fired six times (he says "1 + 2 + 2 + 1") and is empty, and Miss Scarlett who says there had been only five shots (she argues "1 + 2 + 1 + 1"). Wadsworth is proved wrong, and in the last line of Ending A he reviews his calculation: "1 plus 2 ... plus 1 ..." The camera cuts away as he continues speaking, so it is often unnoticed that the sum he actually utters is neither six or five, but seven.