This movie PERMANENTLY traumatized me

Very happy to see someone agree with me. Not one person felt that way, but I was 7 and ET was a horror movie to me, slept in my parent's room that night!

I used to fast forward the early scene of him running through the ferns cause it scared me lol but i still love/d it and watched all the time!

I agree the scientists in big suits were freaky and one thing thing i dreamt about was that cord being pulled until the chair is forced into the wall, dont know why but it freaked me!

E.T himself never really scared me, i knew he was a friend! Still walked out of the cinema today and said i want one!!!

I totally understand what you mean. In fact last night out of the blue I had an E.T. dream...
E.T. never really freaked me out himself, always thought he was kind of cute. In fact my parents used an E.T. doll as a practice baby (that explains a lot...)
...but when E.T. got sick, turned white, FBI suit-men show up, it might as well have been The Exorcist... god I'm shivering right now!

I used to think E.T's boney hands were waiting beneath the sofa, waiting to drag me under.. while my mum and aunt chatted in another room somewhere - totally unaware of a petrified 2/3 year old perched on the arm of the sofa. That's actually one of my earliest memories.

Yeah! I was traumatized too. :-)
I saw it when it was first released, I was 6. Despite the scary scenes (I especially agree about the opening and ET nearly dying on the river bank) I came home happy. I liked the film. But then I started having nightmares about ET's face... I developed a sort of phobia for a while, I couldn't even look at a ET hoody a schoolmate had.

But I have love in my heart - Yes, as a thief has riches, a usurer money

Got to add myself to the list here. I was born in the mid-80s, and for some reason my brothers (all 4 of them) had no problem with this film. I, however, was terrified by ET, and still am. Particular scenes that freak me out to this day...

- The many ETs roaming the forest at the beginning
- When Elliot discovers him in the cornfield
- Elliot sleeping out on the lounger, and ET emerging from the smoke (holy hell, that is scary)
- ET's face hiding in the toys

Despite this, though, inexplicably, I love this film. I always have. Yes I had to bury my face in the couch whenever certain scenes came on, and the actual image of ET would give me a jolt of panic whenever I saw it...but this is one of my favourite films of all time. It is beautifully written, beautifully acted by the young cast, expertly directed, the soundtrack is rousing and iconic, but also tear-jerking and emotionally powerful. It is also frightening, not just in the image of ET, but in the themes it deals with (government, divorce, death).

ET is a movie that defies to conform to any one genre. It's not a kid's film. But I think it's important for kids to be subjected to these types of films. We live in an age when, now, movies pander and play down to children - modern children's films are light, fluffy, and mostly without substance, and generally inaccessible for adults. ET breaks all those conventions, and does it so wonderfully, through Spielberg's magical directing. It is, along with Schindler's List, his best film to date.

Interestingly I watched the Blu-Ray of ET very recently (with is the ORIGINAL theatrical release, by the way...none of that CGI crap from the 20th anniversary edition). Seeing it on a big screen in full HD, watching it in surround sound and being able to pick up on every single tiny detail I would before have missed, seems to have cured my phobia of ET somewhat. I'm still freaked out by the image of him, but watching this updated film after so many years really made me come to terms with it as a film I love, full stop. Cried my bloody eyes out at the end. I urge you, if you can, to check out the Blu-Ray - for me, it kinda complete any unresolved issues I had with the little sausage alien.

Until recently, I had never owned the film, my grandmother showing it to me when the VHS first came out and it leaving me with much the same impression as you. Having just watched the Blu-ray, I certainly appreciated what so many people love about the film, but at the same time, I remember all the things that freaked me out as a child. So I'm torn on my feelings for the film, even now.

I understand that different people (especially kids) can get scared of stuff that happens in movies, but come on. I don't get how anyone could be that afraid of E.T. to the point of being traumatized by it. And for the record, yes, I first watched this movie at three years old and in the 80s. Especially since E.T. was just a silly looking alien that plays dress-up with a little kid and eats Reeses Pieces candy.