Superstition was extremely popular on pre-cert video in the UK on the VTC label in the early 1980s. It was so popular that it actually got a subsequent cinema release in 1984, under the title "The Witch", courtesy of Bordeaux Films International. This is one of the few times a video release was followed up by a theatrical release, rather than the other way around. It was then re-released by Stablecane under the title "The Witch", again on video shortly afterward.
The film was listed on Greater Manchester Police's list of films subject to seizure during the UK video nasty scare of the 1980s. It was later released fully uncut in 1986 (as "The Witch") on the Stablecane label, and under its original title, in 2005, by Momentum.
The movie was originally a simple story about a family moving into a house haunted by a witch. The characters Mary and Arlen, the scenes at the lake, and the flashback sequences were all added after principal photography had wrapped. The producers felt these new elements would make the movie more exciting.
James Houghton had quit smoking eight years before he was cast as Rev. David Thompson. Director James W. Roberson insisted that the character smoke, but Houghton was hesitant because he didn't want to relapse. Roberson convinced him to do it, and Houghton picked up smoking again for the next several years.
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