Amblin’s Gremlins has carved out permanent space in requisite holiday viewing, but there’s a glaring omission when it comes to Halloween fare. Granted, Steven Spielberg’s E.T. is saccharine family sci-fi not horror, but it does follow that same “boy and his dog” formula that makes Gremlins so utterly charming. And like Gremlins, E.T. perfectly captures its holiday spirit. A holiday that so happens to be the best one of them all: Halloween. Spielberg’s classic is a fantastic hidden Halloween gem to initiate budding genre fans.
Released in 1982, E.T. tells of a peaceful alien botanist accidentally left behind when gathering specimens in a California forest. He finds shelter in the shed of a nearby suburban home, which happens to belong to divorced single mom Mary (Dee Wallace). Mary is struggling to raise her three young kids, who curse at the dinner table and pretend to be sick in order to skip school. She’s so stressed she doesn’t notice the alien living in her backyard. But her 10-year-old son Elliot does (Henry Thomas).
Elliot lures the alien, who he and his siblings dub E.T., out of hiding using Reese’s Pieces candy. Or rather, a trail of Reese’s Pieces candy. Elliot and E.T. form a deep bond, including a telepathic connection, and Elliot wrangles his siblings together to help keep his alien secret. Poor E.T. wasn’t meant for Earthbound living, though, and falls ill. Leaving Elliot and his brother Michael to sneak E.T. out of the house under the guise of Halloween trick or treating to help E.T. phone home.
It’s this joyous segment of the film that best captures the Halloween spirit. From getting dressed up and ready for trick or treating, and finding a suitable costume for E.T., to Mary’s ecstatic reaction to seeing her kids all decked out for an evening of Halloween fun. Even Mary is in on the Halloween fun, dressed up as a cat and her home prepared for an onslaught of trick or treaters.
Spielberg relays that sense of awe and wonderment of what it was like to be let free on Halloween and roam the neighborhood in search of candy by framing it through E.T.’s eyes. Through the little eyeholes of his ghostly sheet, we feel and see E.T’s curiosity. We feel his trying to make sense of the costumes, whether the more ghoulish costumes have “ouchies” or whether a young Yoda is a friend like him. It’s through Halloween that Spielberg nails that childhood magic and nostalgia. What would it feel like to be a kid again on Halloween? This scene sums it up.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was the highest grossing movie of the ‘80s. In a decade where much of the top 10 highest grossers were sci-fi, no less. It was a more personal tale for Spielberg too, who had coped with his parents’ divorce as a child by developing an imaginary alien friend. It’s those themes of divorce, friendship, and government paranoia that makes E.T. withstand the test of time. That makes it a poignant family film. But it’s one that merits more discussion during the Halloween season; it’s October and the Halloween setting isn’t just a backdrop. It’s interwoven throughout. When family-friendly channels dedicate their Halloween programming to seasonal frights and feels, E.T. should make the cut. Trick or treating, epic candy choices, and friendship.
Tis the season!