To clear a path for '31', Rob Zombie told fans he was unable to make another movie with the characters from House of 1000 Corpses (2003)/The Devil's Rejects (2005) because Lions Gate owns them. A Lions Gate executive denied Zombie's claim, saying he could do "whatever he wants" with the characters because Zombie still owns them.
Rob Zombie said the reason he set this movie on Halloween was because he read a statistic which stated that more people go missing on Halloween in the U.S. than any other day, and he thought it would make an interesting premise for a film.
Sheri Moon Zombie was in the middle of quitting smoking during filming, which she said added to the misery of her character.
Rob Zombie: [old movie clips] The classic silent horror film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) plays during the sex scene between Cherry Bomb (Ginger Lynn) and Doom-Head (Richard Brake).