But finally and most ruinously, there was the house. Hammer built his little pied a terre on 12.5 acres at 44896 Vista del Sol in the hills of Fremont, California, roughly 20 miles south and a thousand light years away from the East Oakland neighborhood in which he grew up.

House began filming on April 22, 1985. The first two weeks of production comprised shooting exteriors at the estate known today as Mills View, a Victorian style home first built in 1887 and located on Melrose Avenue in Monrovia, California.