Corey Burton, who voices the Critters, also came up with their language, which he described in interviews as combining elements of French and Japanese.
Although promoted as New Line's answer to Gremlins (1984), the screenplay had been written and bought before Gremlins was announced. Herek had based the screenplay on a nightmare he experienced as a child long before Gremlins was even conceived.
Charles Chiodo based the design of the crites on the Looney Tunes character Taz the Tasmanian Devil.
'Grovers Bend' the town where most of Critters takes place, is a nod to the infamous 1938 radio broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' by Orson Welles. The broadcast reported Aliens were landing in 'Grovers Mill' and was performed so well that thousands of listeners believed the fake news report was true. The broadcast is about aliens landing in a space craft and then attacking humankind, just like the plot in Critters.