A waxwork of the "E.T. - the Extra-Terrestrial" character of the Steven Spielberg movie in Berlin. (Photo by 360b on Shutterstock)
You'll be hard-pressed to find a list of the best family movies of all time that doesn't include E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The Steven Spielberg classic has long captured the hearts and minds of Americans, young and old. But plenty of folks who first saw this movie in childhood were completely frightened by the film, so much so that it's haunted them well into adulthood. Now, a new survey, which looks at how common this fear is in 2024, reveals that 1 in 8 adults still find E.T. scary.
Though I appreciate the movie now, I admit I was an '80s child who could not bring myself to watch E.T. back then. And it wasn't the only popular movie that freaked me out. I recall losing my head after seeing the scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when Augustus falls into the Chocolate River and gets stuck in the tube. All I remember is being at my grandparents' condo with my brother and melting into a crying mess. Similarly, there was that absolutely horrific moment in Superman III when the woman gets pulled into the machine that turns her into a hideous robot. It was the stuff of nightmares for me way back when.
According to the survey of 1,000 Americans by Talker Research on behalf of Wealth of Geeks, many Americans have long harbored a fear of E.T. that they haven't really shared with others. While 13% of respondents find the far-from-home alien “very” scary, another 36% share the sentiment — but only deem E.T. to be “somewhat” scary.
Conversely, a much braver 41% of participants say they feel no fear towards Spielberg’s prized creation, while some (11%) had not seen the movie and could not say either way.
Interestingly, the results show that men are twice as likely to find E.T. scary (17%) compared to women (9%).
There were also huge regional differences in fear levels. Northeasterners are by far the most prone to fearing E.T., with 30 percent acknowledging a strong scare factor. Those in the West (13%) were next likely to report intense unease, while those in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest were all 5 percent or lower in terms of feeling E.T. is “very” scary.
The fear of E.T. findings emerged in Wealth of Geeks’ wider aliens survey, which found one in three people (37%) think aliens are living among us in disguise. However, many remain unconvinced. Forty-one percent of those polled disagree that extraterrestrial life may be walking and talking among us, with the remainder unsure (22%).
Survey methodology:
This random double-opt-in survey was conducted by market research company Talker Research, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR). Data was collected from Dec. 1st to Dec. 4th, 2023, from 1,000 general-population Americans.
