"Alone in the Dark" was the first film produced by New Line Cinema, which had previously been exclusively a film distribution company. According to director Jack Sholder, he had listened to New Line founder Robert Shaye mull over the idea of getting into production of low-budget horror films, and pitched the idea of "a group of criminally insane guys escaping from a mental hospital during a blackout in NYC and creating mayhem and then getting rounded up by the mafia," citing a New York City blackout he had experienced several years prior as an inspiration. The script was considered too expensive to produce, so it was re-written as a home-invasion thriller (without the "mafia" angle). While New Line raised money for the film, Sholder worked as the editor of the 1981 slasher "The Burning", which he credits with helping him learn about "building scares and how to build suspense and tension."