Trivia: The Krite that grows to human size is usually obscured, shot from a distance, or only seen for brief instances. This is because the crew wasn't happy with the way the costume looked. While the Krites looked great as tiny creatures, once they reached human-sized, they looked unintentionally hilarious. The crew had to shoot it in such a way to make it feel like a threat without directly showing it too much. This is also why the Krites don't grow that large in any of the sequels.
Trivia: The name of the town in the film is "Grover's Bend." This is a bit of a reference to the town of "Grover's Mill," which was the town where the aliens supposedly first landed in Orson Welles' infamous "War of the Worlds" broadcast.
Trivia: One of the Krites is biting the head off an "E.T." doll. Dee Wallace coincidentally co-starred in both "Critters" and "E.T." as the mother of each film's respective young protagonist.
Answer: "Krite" is the official name of the creatures, but "critters" is an apt explanation of what they are. The audience would have no idea what a "krite" is, because it's a made up word. So the title of the movie is "Critters" because they are disgusting little creatures. The fact that "krite" sounds similar to "critter" is wordplay on the part of the film-makers.
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