This film's writer-producer-director Daniel J. Phillips has said of this movie: "I wanted to make the type of horror film not dependent on blood and gore to win its fans, but terrifying sequences they will never forget, and characters grounded in reality...We've all seen scary films that make us afraid to go to sleep this will be the first one that will make us afraid to stay awake."
Director Daniel J. Phillips has said that the cult horror story 'The Russian Sleep Experiment' (2015) was a very loose inspiration for the movie.
Reportedly, FFI (Fatal Familial Insomnia) is a real medical condition that affects about sixty to seventy families around the world.
The opening of the movie was completely re-organised and re-structured during editing according to director Daniel J. Phillips. This was to introduce Karla (Sara West), the film's protagonist and central character, in a different way. He said in an interview with the 'Blazing Minds' website: ''We did this because as it was written, we were introducing her as a doctor first, rather than a student, so people didn't get that she was a student-doctor. Some magic from my editor, Sean Lahiff, and some slick ADR fixed the problem. It's amazing how easy it seems to take certain information the audience is receiving for granted until you really see it cut together.''
Of the film's Northern American release, writer-director Daniel J. Phillips said: "It's great to see our little Australian film being released as widely as it is in different parts of the world, especially with everything that's going on at the moment. I hope that the wide distribution of my first feature will invite new opportunities to collaborate on projects in Australia and internationally. I can't wait to jump into my second film as soon as possible."