While filming a particularly bloody scene, Rider Strong decided to go for a walk in the woods between setups. Covered head to toe in blood, he happened upon a group of 35 schoolgirls, who were on a field trip. The girls screamed at the sight of this blood-drenched hiker, and then screamed even louder when they realized the hiker was the star of Boy Meets World (1993). The girls chased Rider through the woods. Strong eventually made it back to the film crew, and vowed never to wander off between scenes again.
Crew member Robert Jones took home the decapitated body prop once the film wrapped, and was pulled over while driving home by police officers at gunpoint who thought the corpse in the passenger seat was real. The police held Jones at gunpoint until they were able to confirm the lifelike body was only a prop.
Director Eli Roth originally got the idea for this movie while working in Iceland on a horse farm. He got such a bad skin infection from the rotting hay in the barn that his face broke out in sores, bled and peeled off when he shaved.
Sound mixer John Neff survived the real flesh-eating bacterium, which he contracted in a hospital during minor surgery. It took 13 days of non-stop intensive care medical attention to save his life. Neff maintains the make-up in the film is 100% accurate.
Peter Jackson stopped production on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) three times to screen this movie for the entire crew. Jackson was so enthusiastic about the film he gave director Eli Roth publicity quotes.
Eli Roth: the lost hiker who is named 'Justin' in the end credits. Roth himself is credited as 'David Kaufbird'.
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