In the early 1980s, 20th Century Fox produced, but did not release, a video game with the name of this movie. Made for the Atari 2600, it even very loosely followed the plot of the film, unlike some other 20th Century Fox games which just used the title of a film. A "prototype" copy of the unreleased game has since surfaced.
This film was made because Twentieth Century-Fox needed a low-budget "monster movie" in the CinemaScope format to play on the bottom of a double bill with Return of the Fly, the sequel to its "sleeper" hit The Fly. Fox did not produce this film, however. It was made by independent producer Jack Leewood and bought by Fox.