 Except" was originally produced in 1980 as a Super-8 film entitled "Stryker's War", designed to get interest from investors; Campbell and Becker drafted the story ideas while returning home from the Tennessee set of "The Evil Dead".The interior sets were primarily Bruce Campbell's garage in suburban Detroit, Michigan, dressed up as either a military base or Stryker's house.The Vietnam scenes were filmed in Hartland, though the overhead shots consist solely of stock footage.