Sam Sherman recalls in a 1991 Filmfax interview that the film was originally titled Screaming Angels. 'It was an attempt to do a biker film with motorcyclists who were good and a Manson-type cult that was bad. Easy Rider (1969) had come, and after that point there was a trend away from showing the motorcycle gang as the bad group. In Easy Rider, you got the idea that these people, who were outcasts from society, were actually good and were misunderstood.'
Sam Sherman said the film was shot at the Spahn Ranch, were the Manson gang had been. 'We even had some members of the Manson gang in it, people who had been hanging around. I don't know if they were killers or not. (laughs) What happened in this instance was one of those things you can't imagine or even predict.'