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.
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.