20 Horror Monsters That Were Scarier Before You Saw Them

1979 sci-fi horror The Dark opens in Los Angeles, with struggling writer Warner discovering his daughter has been slaughtered by a serial killer. As Warner investigates the massacre, he realises the perpetrator is an alien.

For most of the story, the space fiend is shown only in silhouettes, shadows, and in quick cuts. The murders themselves are often staged in near-darkness, leaving the extra-terrestrial’s appearance ambiguous.

However, the reason why the alien is rarely seen is because it wasn't meant to be an alien at all. During production, the antagonist was supposed to be a zombie, but after the success of Alien two months prior, the powers-that-be decided The Dark would be more appealing if the villain was from beyond the stars.

With no time to craft an alien costume, the filmmakers overlaid the climactic shootout with special effects, so the antagonist (who clearly looks like a zombie) shoots space lasers from its eyes to give a more alien vibe. Although the design of the monster is fine, having the cartoonish effects hastily thrown in at the last minute turns a riveting shootout into a parody-like sequence.