It Seems to Hang On is based on the true story of the serial killers Alton Coleman and Debra Brown, a young Black couple who cut a violent path beginning in the summer of 1984 through the American Midwest (Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin). The dialogue spoken in the film is inspired and based on lyrics from the American soul duo (and couple) Ashford and Simpson's 1979 hit song "It Seems to Hang On".