Trivia / Targets

• Banned in China: Around five years after release, in March 1973, New Zealand refused to issue a 'certificate of approval' for the film's trailer on the basis that it was "contrary to public order and decency."
• Descended Creator: Director and screenwriter Peter Bogdanovich also plays screenwriter Sammy Michaels.
• Distanced from Current Events: Although the film was written and production photography completed in late 1967, it was not released until after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and that of Robert F. Kennedy in the spring of 1968, thus having some topical relevance to then-current events. Nevertheless, it was not very successful at the box office.
• Doing It for the Art: Not at first; Boris Karloff was attached to the movie because he owed the ever-frugal producer Roger Corman two days' worth of filming. However, he became so impressed with the resulting script that despite his age and frail health, he volunteered the extra few days of filming needed to complete his part of the project.
• Executive Meddling: A positive example - the reason this film exists is because, when shooting finished on The Terror, Roger Corman realized Boris Karloff still had two shooting days left on his contract. He immediately told Peter Bogdanovich to come up with a film that he could make with those two days (as noted above, it ran over by a few), whatever money was left over, and stock footage from The Terror. The result is widely considered one of the best films to come out of Corman's handiwork.
• I Am Not Spock: Byron Orlok is Boris Karloff with the serial numbers lightly sanded off. Almost counts as an As Himself trope, although in Real Life Karloff wasn't about to retire, and seemed happy to make this film.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: The film was shot in 25 days and production was completed in December 1967. Due to its controversial nature, Paramount delayed it for a year and only released it after inserting a written prologue denouncing gun violence.
• Throw It In!: According to Peter Bogdanovich's introduction to the film on the DVD, the scene in which Sammy wakes up with a hangover and is jolted when the first thing he sees is Byron Orlok originally called for him to laugh at himself, but he couldn't manage it. Boris Karloff suggested the bit that is actually used in the film - and ad-libbed Orlok's start when he unexpectedly confronts himself in a mirror, as well.

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