It stars Peter Liapis, Lisa Pelikan, Michael Des Barres, Jack Nance, Scott Thomson, and Mariska Hargitay in her film debut.

The film follows a young man named Jonathan Graves who, after inheriting his satanic father's estate, becomes seduced by its occult secrets.

Twenty-five years later, an adult Jonathan and his girlfriend Rebecca inherit his late father's estate, where they find several books on magic and a basement full of occult paraphernalia.

The concept was pitched by Bercovici to executive producer Charles Band, with whom he previously worked as an actor on the film Parasite (1982).

However, after Winston dropped out of the project, Band decided to step back into a producer role and chose Bercovici to direct.

[4] Principal photography began on January 30, 1984, at the Wattles Mansion, which served as the film's main location, in Los Angeles, California, after being in pre-production for five months.

[4] Halfway through shooting, Band ran out of money, so the filmmakers spent months searching for funding, which allowed Gremlins to be released first.

[5] Vincent Canby of The New York Times dismissed the film as "a cut-rate 'Gremlins'" with "unexceptional performances" and "a lot of badly simulated gore".

[6] Variety wrote that the film "has a quaint corniness about it, as if it were a cheapie horror movie from the 1950s ... Special effects and production values are mediocre, which in this case is part of the fun".

[7] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Cinematographer Mac Ahlberg contributes eerily lit camera work that occasionally achieves surprising atmosphere and delicacy, and John Carl Buechler's creations, the ghoulies themselves—foul, reptilian little beings coated with some obscene glittering, mucous-like moisture—have a certain nauseating charm.

[8] Kim Newman of The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "an unashamed rip-off which contrives to ignore its obvious inspiration (Gremlins) and comes up with yet another prime example of the comic book-ish vitality, wit and simplicity which has become Band's trademark".