25 Things You Didn't Know About Alien
2. The Alien Only Has 4 Minutes Of Screen Time
One of Alien's great strengths was how it effectively limited the alien's screen time whilst managing to remain tense and terrifying. The monster is rarely seen and is never shown in full or with clear lighting - frequently obscured, lurking in the shadows or shown in extreme close-up. The fact that it only seems to appear moments before a kill solidifies its status as a stealthy hunter.
With this known, totting up the alien's on-screen presence is still surprising. Over the film's 117 minute runtime, the creature appears for a grand total of only four minutes, and doesn't make an appearance until around the 1-hour mark.