This remake and The Stepfather (1987) were loosely based on the crimes of John List, a New Jersey accountant who murdered his wife, mother, and three children at their home in November 1971, and then disappeared. List eluded justice for almost eighteen years, during which time he assumed a new identity, remarried, and resumed his work as an accountant. He was finally arrested in June 1989 in Virginia, after the story of his murders was featured on an episode of America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back (1988); a former neighbor had recognized the age-progressed clay bust of List, which turned out to bear a close resemblance to his actual appearance, and alerted the authorities. List died in prison in 2008.
Terry O'Quinn, the star of The Stepfather (1987), was offered a cameo role in this movie, but he turned it down.
A scene in the trailer, in which a buzzsaw swings back and forth a few inches away from a character's face, was cut for pacing reasons, but it had already been used in multiple advertising materials before it was trimmed from the final release.
Braeden Lemasters, who played Penn Badgley's younger brother in this movie, played Badgley's younger self in Easy A (2010).
The original R-rated 1987 movie featured a young step-daughter and a nude scene where she took a shower. The PG-13 remake changed it to a young step-son, but no nudity.
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