Trivia

The Carmichael character is very clearly based (including physically) on the real-life James Randi. Randi was a talented magician who became a famous psychic debunker and he started an institute that offered a large reward to anyone that could reproduce their supposed paranormal powers in controlled conditions. Over decades, nobody was able to win the money.

Traditional folklore states that if a person makes a contract with the Devil for earthly goods, the Devil comes to claim his payment in seven years. The "documentary footage" at the start of the film shows Delroy at the Grove in 1969. His wife dies in 1976 - seven years later.

Actor David Dastmalchian was cast in the lead role and film's central character Jack Delroy after the film's directors read an article by him about regional horror TV hosts, which he had written for 'Fangoria' magazine. Co-director Colin Cairnes said in an interview with the film's two directors published in this magazine: ''Well, I mean other than sure just recognizing his awesome work and all the films he's been in. But then I opened up 'Fango' one day and read an article by David on regional horror hosts. And reading that, and knowing his work, I just thought, 'this is going to be a really good fit.' Obviously, our hero Jack is a TV host, so it felt like there would be some affinity there.''

In a 2024 interview with The Moveable Fest, Colin Cairnes explained the reason the film is set in 1977: "The film had to happen on a Monday night for Sweeps Week, so the stakes are high and this is the beginning of the week that's gonna make or break Jack Delroy's career, right? And it just so happened that 1977 was the only year in the '70s where Halloween fell on a Monday night, so we thought ''77, that's pretty much, you're right in the thick of it.' So that worked for us."

The amount of time that the opening black and white sequence runs for is about eight minutes. It was inspired by the 1980s shockumentary documentary The Killing of America (1981). The later sequences in B&W in the movie are the on-set and off-air interludes during commercial breaks.