10 Horror Movie Facts That Will Blow Your Mind
4. E.T. Was Originally A Horror Film
Considering E.T. has a somewhat terrifying creature at its centre that screeches, waves his laser pointer finger around, and is set up as a monstrous invader before we learn his true nature - you can see some argument as to why the film is pretty scary as is. E.T. has never really been considered a horror movie despite its capability to accidentally unnerve young children the world over, and originally, that was exactly what Spielberg intended.
After Close Encounters of the Third Kind, studio Universal were keen to get a spooky follow up movie on their cards from the director, pushing for an extra-terrestrial flavoured horror story that was born as an original draft titled Night Skies. This had character work by the legendary horror SFX artist Rick Baker, and a race of aliens that could kill people with one touch of their long, bony fingers. Sound familiar?
Spielberg had a change of heart as he neared preproduction, however, instead wanting to focus on the relationship between the main character and one friendly alien dubbed 'Buddy' that helps save the family in the script. Screenwriter Melissa Mathison then gave the film a much more friendly spin that appealed directly to Speilberg's childlike wonder, and left him incapable of wanting to film anything else.
Instead, Night Skies was altered to be ghosts, and Poltergeist was born in its place.