Produced in 1981, but not released until 1986 to cash in on the rising fame of Kevin Costner, who has a small role. VHS promotional art featured him prominently.
The baby is the son of the producer Eric Louzel.
Eric Louzil produced Malibu Hot Summer (1981) and Shadows Run Black (1984) at the same time and both have Kevin Costner in small roles. They were his first acting roles. Louzil said Costner was a stagehand working on set at the time. One day Costner he walked into his office and said he was thinking about getting into acting. Louzil and his producing partner wife thought he was a good looking guy so they made him one of the boyfriends in Malibu Hot Summer. They said he was a terrible actor, but he did look good on screen. Then they gave him a role in Shadows Run Black.
While filming No Way Out (1987), Kevin Costner contacted Eric Louzil to buy the rights to Malibu Hot Summer (1981) and Shadows Run Black (1984), which Louzil produced. But Louzil had already sold the rights to Troma. Costner was pissed. He had appeared in both movies early in his career and he didn't want anyone to see them now that his career was starting to take off. Louzil said in 2002 that he'd given about 300 interviews about Costner once he became a star because of the two films.