Banks revealed that she took inspiration from the splatstick of Sam Raimi, the coming-of-age classic "Stand By Me," and Steven Spielberg's two creature features, "Jaws" and "Jurassic Park." Banks didn't want to just make a monster movie, saying that the characters make "Cocaine Bear" feel unique:
"The reason I made it was not necessarily because of the crazy bear. I do love these movies and I love horror and I love gore. And I love horror comedy. I love Sam Raimi and I love John Carpenter ... This takes place in 1985, so it's a real opportunity to create an homage to some of those kinds of films, but also to do something really unique tonally because it's also a character piece."