dante, the director of "gremlins" and "innerspace", and his partner, michael finnell, were immediately impressed by the concept of the movie. dante, who specializes in offbeat subject matters, was intrigued by the blending of real-life situations with elements of the supernatural. "when i tell people about the story, a remarkable number say, 'on my grandmother's block, there were people like that. they never mowed their lawn, and they never came out, and they let their mail stack up, and nobody knew who they were'. and i must confess that in my own neighborhood there's a house like that, falling to wrack and ruin. i think this is perhaps a more common event than most people are aware of."