 Lucio Fulci (qv) shot roughly 70 minutes of footage for the film  before he had to leave the production due to a stroke. Producer  Franco Gaudenzi (qv) asked second unit director  Bruno Mattei (qv) and writer Claudio Fragasso (qv) to take over  the directors chair. They cut Fulcis footage down to around 50  minutes and added 40 minutes of their own.