While filming at The Sable Ranch location in California , the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union (I.A.T.S.E.),tried to organize the production. Production of the movie shut down when the filming crew went on strike, forcing the producers to continue filming the movie in Mexico, outside of union jurisdiction .
Shurkin shoots at Flat Dog with a sawn-off Trapdoor Springfield Rifle.
According to DeMartini, casting director Cathy Henderson-Martin auditioned two thousand people, narrowing the pool down to a few hundred who met with Hooper and DeMartini.
Producer Frank DeMartini said that, with Crocodile, director Tobe Hooper was "trying to [...] recapture the fright of" The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Hooper agreed, saying, "It's the 25th anniversary of the first Chain Saw, and I really wanted to create an atmosphere that will wind you up like that"; although he also stated, "Stylistically, I'm going for an entirely different look from anything I've ever done, or anything you'd expect me to do." Noting that the movie was his second about crocodiles, after Eaten Alive (1977), he described Crocodile as a campfire film with a "mythological background. There's a legend connected with it. Every town in America seems to have some story of [a] lake or woods with a monster in it." He compared the characters to those in Deliverance (1972), as Crocodile also becomes about survival.
The screenplay was written by Michael D. Weiss, Adam Gierasch, and Jace Anderson. Thomas Crow of Fangoria stated that Tobe Hooper had "tinkered with" the script. Hooper said, "On paper, something may look good, but things change. Speaking in broad strokes, we've been reshaping some of the dialogue [to suit the actors]. The idea on the page will certainly get to the screen, but I'm aiming for spontaneity."