The film was originally developed as a project for director Mario Bava under the working title 'Cry Nightmare', after producer Lawrence Woolner of the Woolner Brothers approached him with a story idea about a killer stalking a school for young debutantes.

Bava began developing the screenplay in late May or early June with English writers Brian Degas and Tudor Gates, completing it by July, but shortly before filming was to begin he had an argument with the producers and abandoned the project.

According to Mario Bava's biographer Tim Lucas, director Antonio Margheriti took over the production shortly after Bava left, inheriting locations already scouted, cast and crew already hired, and even a theme song already written and recorded.

Antonio Margheriti said he could not recall exactly why Bava did not complete the film, speculating that Bava was likely busy at the time working on Diabolik, before the production was handed to him.

The film was shot on location in Rome and on the French Riviera under the working title 'Sette vergini per il diavolo' (Seven Virgins for the Devil).

Despite Mario Bava, Tudor Gates and Brian Degas doing the original screenplay work, they received no writing credit on the finished film, which instead credits Margheriti and Franco Bottari for the screenplay from a story by Giovanni Simonelli; biographer Tim Lucas noted the final film follows Bava, Gates and Degas' script almost 100% faithfully.

The film was submitted to Italian censors on December 22, 1967, but did not premiere until two months later, on February 20, 1968, under the title Nude... si muore.

In the United States, American International Pictures released a shortened 78-minute edit as The Young, the Evil and the Savage, opening in New York on August 14, 1968 on a double bill with Witchfinder General; the film later resurfaced on VHS in 1987 as Schoolgirl Killer, on DVD in 2007 as Naked You Die, and on Blu-ray in 2024 from Vinegar Syndrome under the same title, including both the Italian and shortened English versions.

Margheriti later described the film as a 'nice little giallo,' noting it was ahead of its time since the giallo genre did not become widely popular in Italy until Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.