Americans are surprisingly terrified of iconic movie character – and men are twice as likely to admit their fear

If you’re scared of ET then rest assured, you’re not alone.

A group of Americans have weighed in on how the popular ’80s alien movie makes them feel in a new survey.

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One in eight Americans finds ET scary, according to a new survey from Talker Research.

Many Americans have long harbored a fear they don’t all feel comfortable sharing.

They think ET, the “cute” extraterrestrial gracing our screens in 1982, is actually quite fear-inducing.

And while one in eight finds the far-from-home alien to be ‘very’ scary a further 36% share the sentiment but only deem the being “somewhat” scary.

The fear of ET prevalence emerged in a survey exploring all things aliens by Talker Research on behalf of Wealth of Geeks.

The survey of 1,000 Americans saw a braver four in 10 respondents say they feel no fear towards Steven Spielberg’s creation, while some had not seen the movie and could not say either way.

Interestingly, men are nearly twice as likely to find ET scary, coming in at 17%, compared to women at 9%.

There were also huge regional differences in fear levels.

Northeasterners are by far the most prone to fearing ET with 30% acknowledging a strong scary factor.

Those in the West, which accounted for 13%, were next likely to report strong ET unease.

In the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest watchers were all 5% or lower in terms of feeling ET is “very” scary.

The fear of ET findings emerged in Wealth of Geeks’ wider aliens survey, which found one in three people think aliens are living among us in disguise.

However, many remain unconvinced that there are other living things in the universe.

Forty-one percent of those polled disagree with the notion that extraterrestrial life may be walking and talking among us, with the remaining 22% uncertain.

ONE-OF-A-KIND

The mechatronic model of the infamous alien was a one-of-a-kind prop that sold for over $2.5 million in 2022.

It was originally created by Italian special effects designer Carlo Rambaldi, who also worked on Alien in 1979, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977.

The mechatronic filming model was operated by twelve professional animators all supervised and coordinated by Rambaldi.

Its fully mechanical movements include facial expressions and movements from almost all its human-like body parts.

The ET model was able to move its nose, eyes, mouth, lid and neck movement, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, chest, and abdomen rotations through the combination of cables connected to electronic apparatus and mechanical elements.

Though the incredible robot took on some of ET’s character, a 2-foot-10 stunt person actually performed much of the acting in the film, according to IMDB.

If you’re a fan of the film, take a look at how unrecognizable the actor who played Elliott, the boy who befriends ET, was in 2022.

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