10 Awesome Movie Monsters Only In One Scene

Seeing might be believing, but that doesn't mean you have to bare all the first chance you get. This is great advice, if I do say so myself, both for movies brewing up original monsters just waiting to break out on screen and for first dates too. But hey, if you guys want to slip out of your skin suit and reveal your lizard person visage in full straight away, that's none of my business at all. Just don't forget your neuralyzers if it all goes pear shaped, my Area 51 brethren.

In any case, films all too often give away their very best creations before they've had a chance to really build up their intrigue. Where a creature could be scary, or mysterious, or wield powers unknown to the audience by lurking in the shadows and shrouding itself in delicious enigma, Hollywood all too often shoehorns in as many appearances as possible to really get their money's worth.

So when you stumble across those that need only one scene to make an impression, it's a rare treat. Whether monsters are there to scare you silly or put up a thrilling fight - dropping in for a single encounter before disappearing to never be seen again - those that know what they've got and are happy to dwell at the edges of a narrative are some of the most memorable of their kind...

The Lord of the Rings saga is replete with all sorts of creatures that don't get big screen time in the mainline entries. I mean, even the giant freakin' wizard-slaying Balrog didn't get more than a handful of appearances across two of the three movies, with most of the monsters of Middle Earth - from Shelob to the Mouth of Sauron - having one big moment before fading into obscurity amongst the mammoth set-pieces.

One such monster that made quite the splash for all of a scene is the Watcher in the Water, an entity dwelling in the dark body of a lake before the Doors of Durin leading to Moria. Disturbed by stones being thrown into the depths, director Peter Jackson utilises POV shots and a burgeoning soundtrack to let us know that all is not as it seems underneath the surface before busting out a mess of tentacles that latch onto Frodo.

From here, the Watcher seems something like Tolkien's take on a Kraken, only more mean looking, pulling itself onto land with such force that it crumbles the Doors of Durin with but a slap of its noodly limbs. He might be a little CGI around the edges, but this ancient evil is enough to make anyone shiver in their mithril shirt.