MovieChat Forums > E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Discussion > This movie PERMANENTLY traumatized me

This movie PERMANENTLY traumatized me

posted 12 years ago by Ohyoubigsilly
77 replies | jump to latest

To this day, only one movie, out of the thousands of films I've seen over the years, ever truly traumatized me. That movie is E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial.

I was an 80s baby, and in the years after the movie's release, naturally my mom bought it on VHS thinking it would be a cute, uplifting film for a young kid to watch. What she didn't realize is that she had made a big, BIG mistake.

All it took was witnessing the cornfield scene for the very first time as an impressionable 5-year-old, and the die had been cast. This was a horror film as far as my childhood self was concerned.

So many scenes and details disturbed me overwhelmingly, in particular these:

• Music/sound effects at beginning (so eerie)
• FBI chase scene at beginning (the screeching figure running through the ferns)
• Cornfield scene
• E.T.'s hand coming out of the bushes to grab Reese's Pieces candies
• Back-and-forth exchange of the baseball from the tool shed
• Closet scene with E.T. among the dolls
• Gertie encountering E.T. for the first time
• Government listening in on the household from a van on the street
• E.T. bloated and face-down in the pond
• Elliott's mom encountering E.T. for the first time in the bathroom
• Scientists entering the house in astronaut suits

It's pretty much one scary/creepy/eerie scene after another.

When I was little, I was too afraid to even open my eyes lying in bed at night in fear that that sausage-skinned monster would be squatting there next to my bed, waiting to gnaw my face off with his jagged E.T. teeth. I was absolutely terrified. E.T. was (and still is) a recurring subject in my nightmares. I still can't sleep with my closet door open.

Whenever I'm surprised by an advertisement with E.T., a photo on a website, or even if anyone ever mentions the movie casually, a jolt shoots down my spine, and my heart rate instantly jumps. This is the effect he still has on me as a grown adult!

Despite the movie's impact on my life, I somehow still feel captivated by the story, and watch it again every few years because I get a thrill from it.

Has this movie affected/disturbed/traumatized anyone else as much as it did me?

[–] Retrochic74 11 years ago

I was 7 when this movie was released in 1982. My aunt took me, my sister, and our cousins to see it in the theater. We LOVED it!!! It was the cutest, most heartwarming and endearing movie ever. I saw it again in 2002 when it was recut and released(I was 27) I still cry when Elliot and E.T. say goodbye... But I'll always love this movie :)

[–] wallacesawyer 11 years ago

All those scenes you mentioned are pretty much the ones I remember most from this film. As a kid I used to wonder if it was some kind of horror movie, but even JAWS never creeped me out as much as this film, and I also saw that film at a very young age.

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[–] maxi-foo 11 years ago

Haha, I'm another traumatized 80's child ;D

I remember running away from the TV screaming and crying whenever there was a picture or a short clip of E.T on the TV.

I did however watch E.T when I was 11 or 12, still a little scared from my previous trauma, but I had to hold it in because my younger sister who loved the movie and had seen it without being scared ;D But I watched it and enjoyed it very much and became one of my all time favorite movies.

[–] LITTLEMINTYPOLOS 11 years ago

I can definitely see why this was scare people. It scared me too!

I can't remember how old I was when I saw it, but I know I was under ten years old, nor can I remember my first viewing of it! Hehe. But I have always said for YEARS that the opening sequence in the forest, along with the music, was very creepy indeed!
It is now certified as a PG, but back then it was a U and I always thought they shouldn't have done that. I love this film and love Spielberg, and I know this is a kids films but seriously? Opening a film of this nature like that is bound to creep you out a bit! I'm 30 now and it still creeps me out, even though I love it.

I remember every christmas when the TV was playing adverts for the upcoming christmas films I would hide behind the sofa and cover my ears until the E.T advert was over. I also used to have nightmares about him. There was one particular nightmare I had where he would tickle me to much that I couldn't breathe! lol.

I think is the score wasn't so dark and eerie it might not have seemed so scary. Either way, it's still a classic and one of my favourite films! :D

[–] MrBook_ 11 years ago

The early scenes are shot pretty much as a horror movie. The movie tricks you into thinking something sinister or scary is happening, then reveals it's actually something benign and positive. It's the same trick Spielberg did in Close Encounters five years earlier, in scenes like the little kid being abducted out of his house - a terrifying scene, especially from the kid's mom's point of view.

I saw ET for the first time in a theater when I was five. I was definitely nervous during the cornfield scene, but it went away quickly when I learned what a sweetheart the lil' guy was.

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[–] Sharles90 11 years ago

how anyone can be scared of this movie is beyond me, i had watched Ice Cream Man by mistake when i was 6 and i didn't lose any sleep over it.

[–] dmnmrx 11 years ago

ET manages to be both the creepiest, and most hilarious alien in cinema. Genius.

[–] Darthmauler_megaa 11 years ago

The first few scenes of the film did frighten me a bit as a kid, I always considered fast forwarding through them, lol. But at the same time the soundtrack and atmosphere were so weirdly captivating, even for me as a child.

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