FILM · 1986
Critters
25 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (25)
- #001
Corey Burton, who provided the voice of Critters, revealed in interviews the language he described as one combining French and Japanese elements.
- #002
Although it was marketed as New Line's answer to Gremlins (1984), the script had been written and purchased before Gremlins was announced. Herek conceived the script based on a nightmare he had in his childhood.
- #003
Charles Chiodo based the design of the Crites on the Looney Tunes character the Tasmanian Devil.
- #004
There is an E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) doll in Brad's room. Dee Wallace, who appeared in E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), also plays the mother of a child who comes into contact with aliens.
- #005
Grovers Bend, the town where most of Critters takes place, is a reference to Orson Welles's famous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. The broadcast reported that aliens had landed in Grovers Mill, and the performance was so convincing that thousands of listeners believed the fake news was real.
- #006
The scene in which the creature swallows the cherry bomb was controlled by puppeteers positioned in the hayloft below to operate the stomach and eye movements. Crew member Dwight Roberts said that coordinating the eyes required some effort because of the number of people needed to express the creature's swollen stomach while kneeling on the hay.
- #007
The logo on the back of the bowling shirts is a parody of the iconic Ghostbusters (1984) emblem. The colors of the uniform match those of Egon Spengler's uniform in the animated series The Real Ghostbusters (1986).
- #008
Body count: 1 cow, 2 humans, 8 creatures, 1 goldfish and multiple chickens.
- #009
This is the only Critters film in which one of them reaches human size. The other films do not appear to show them growing larger than their food.
- #010
The creature emerging from the toilet is likely a nod to Ghoulies (1984), a similarly themed film that used small monsters coming out of toilets as a marketing strategy to promote the movie.
- #011
Stephen Herek's directorial debut.
- #012
The toy Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) Y-Wing that Brad blows up on the farm is painted silver.
- #013
The educational videos the bounty hunters watch to learn about Earth include a short clip from Android (1982). That clip features Don Keith Opper, who is also in Critters as its co-writer and lead actor.
- #014
There are only two human deaths on screen; all other human characters are merely injured and survive.
- #015
Neither bounty hunter is named in this film, but their names are given as Ug and Lee in Critters 2: The Main Course (1988).
- #016
Stephen Herek became friends with Domonic Muir while working as an assistant editor on City Limits (1984). While Herek was looking for his next project, Muir offered him the Critters script he had written three years earlier. After working on the script, Herek presented the film to Sho Films through an existing business relationship to get advice on how to make it, and its executives agreed to develop the film.
- #017
Special effects coordinator Chuck E. Stewart hired Joe Lombardi as a consultant for the scene in which the house explodes, in which they rigged the second-floor ceiling with Primacord carrying explosives. With a unit from the Los Angeles County Fire Department standing by, the crew waited until 5:00 a.m. after the winds died down to set off the explosion, and despite the surrounding dry brush there was no brush fire.
- #018
This is the second film (the other being E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)) in which Dee Wallace's on-screen son warms an oral thermometer in his mouth to look sick and avoid going to school. In E. T. she is fooled, but in Critters she does not fall for it a second time.
- #019
The gloves worn by the bounty hunters as part of their costumes are ordinary garden gloves that can be found at any hardware store.
- #020
Brad's cat is named Chewie, likely a reference to Chewbacca from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).
- #021
All of the Critter effects were designed and built for only $100,000, a very small portion of the film's total $2 million budget. In addition, the special effects team had only ten weeks to design the effects. The Critters - or Crites, as they are named in the script - were designed by Charlie Chiodo as furry monsters with small limbs, disproportionately large mouths, three rows of teeth and bright red eyes. After the design was approved, it was handed over to Steve Chiodo, who, with the help of maquettes and other sculptors, sculpted all versions of the Critters.
- #022
According to the Internet Movie Cars Database, Steve's car is a 1983 Porsche 944.
- #023
Ed Chiodo collaborated with Dwight Roberts to design and create the mechanics of the Critters. The main puppets were full-size 13" models with radio-controlled eyes and blinking eyelids, cable-controlled faces, arms and hands, as well as bladders in the throat and chest to simulate breathing. For the Critters' eyes, clear plexiglass spheres were coated on the back with reflective Scotchlite material. On set, a rig connected to the camera sent a red light into the eyes, which reflected back into the camera lens, producing the characteristic bright red effect seen on screen.
- #024
Critters (1986) was written in 1980, while Gremlins (1984) was written in early 1983. Gremlins (1984) became a big hit in '84, and New Line Cinema bought and liked the script for Critters (1986), but demanded some changes to make it somewhat like Gremlins (1984). The film still has its own distinct identity and characters that are not copies of those in Gremlins (1984); it has its own original characters, such as the formidable shape-shifting bounty hunters.
- #025
Sean Astin was the original choice for Brad Brown.
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