10 Things You Learn Rewatching Alien

6. Ridley Scott Shows Just Enough Of The Xenomorph

It's often remarked that you barely see the Xenomorph throughout Alien, though by the time the end credits roll, it certainly feels like you have.

Indeed, the facehugger and Xenomorph only appear in the movie for about four minutes, but that screen time is so ingeniously concentrated that it effectively allows the creature to live in the rest of the movie rent-free.

Scott intentionally kept the alien's screen time as minimal as possible - even cutting out the infamous "crab walk" sequence during Lambert's (Veronica Cartwright) death scene - yet those moments where we do see the creature aren't overly obstructive or vague.

By film's end, we've seen enough of the Xenomorph to feel satisfied, but not enough that it's demystified or becomes overly ordinary (something its equals, arguably even the brilliant Aliens, struggled with).

For any filmmakers attempting to introduce audiences to a new movie monster, this should be the blueprint for how to get it right.