History Main / MonsterDelay

* In ''WebOriginal/TheCrawlspace'', the narrator (and the reader) doesn't get a good look at [[spoiler:the crawlspace creature]] until right near the end of the story, and even then, she [[NothingIsScarier can’t make out everything because it’s dark]]]].

* Before ''VideoGame/TheWitchsHouse'''s finale, you only see the titular witch as a ghostly afterimage that occasionally appears in various parts of the mansion or, one time, [[spoiler:as a crawling silhouette [[RewatchBonus that you most likely wouldn't ever recognise as her on your first playthrough]]]]. That is done to hide [[spoiler:the current state of her body, namely the fact that she is missing her legs and eyes]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'', heavily overlapping with UnseenEvil, this trope is also heavily exaggerated with the so-called "night-feeder" who's obviously featured within the [[Recap/Primal2019E9TheNightFeeder episode of the exact same name]] in that literally ''nothing'' of him at all is ever seen at first right on up until Spear lights up the surrounding landscape with fire during the ''last several seconds'' of the episode and likewise also completely [[KillItWithFire burns him to death]], and that's when he's finally seen for the very first time and also revealed to've simply been a jet-black-skinned ''Megaraptor'' all along.

[[caption-width-right:324:[[NothingIsScarier "Is that just a mutated shark that I see over there]], or even worse, is that actually none other than [[Film/GodzillaVersusDestroyah Burning Godzilla]] himself?! Aw, no!]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'', heavily overlapping with UnseenEvil, this trope is also heavily exaggerated with the so-called "night-feeder" who's obviously featured within the [[Recap/Primal2019S1E9TheNightFeeder episode of the exact same name]] in that literally ''nothing'' of him at all is ever seen at first right on up until Spear lights up the surrounding landscape with fire during the ''last several seconds'' of the episode and likewise also completely [[KillItWithFire burns him to death]], and that's when he's finally seen for the very first time and also revealed to've simply been a jet-black-skinned ''Megaraptor'' all along.

[[caption-width-right:324:[[NothingIsScarier "Is that just a mutated shark that I see over there]], or even worse, is that actually none other than [[Film/GodzillaVsDestroyah Burning Godzilla]] himself?! Aw, no!]]

[[caption-width-right:324:[[NothingIsScarier "Is that just a mutated shark that I see over there]], or even worse, is that actually none other than [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Burning Godzilla]] himself?! Aw, no!]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "The Day the Ed Stood Still", Ed's friends dress him up like a monster, and Ed proceeds to get a little ''too'' into character and go on a rampage. Ed's monster costume isn't seen in full until about two-thirds of the way into the cartoon.

''When the BigBad is a monster -- especially a large monster -- it is imperative to avoid showing us the monster for as long as possible.''

It is OK to [[AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage show small portions of the monster]] (tails, claws, etc.) earlier; the filmmaker should be toward revealing such a monster as an exotic dancer is toward removing her clothing. But the ''full'' reveal of the monster should take a long time -- at least several episodes on television; at least twenty or thirty minutes into the film.

The larger and badder the monster, the longer it will take for them to become visible. If it's ''badder'' than bad, [[UnseenEvil the monster may not be shown at all]].

This law emerges from [[ObscuredSpecialEffects the cost of special effects]] and the desire to [[NothingIsScarier keep the audience in suspense]] until [[JustHereForGodzilla the "good stuff" appears]], and it has become a standard feature of monster movies.

Conforming to this law often involves extensive use of reaction shots, shadow shots, or shots of the monster that are obscured by smoke, waves, darkness, blood, etc.

Of course, actually ''showing'' the monster [[MonsterThreatExpiration usually heralds the decline of its earlier invincibility]]. When the monster is implausibly-good at not being spotted ''in-Verse'', that's SuspiciouslyStealthyPredator.

An alternative trope is SlowTransformation: A major character (often the lead) starts as human but slowly begins changing into a monster, leaving both characters and audience in suspense over what the end result will be, and the final form is only revealed in the climax. Compare UnseenEvil.

* Averted in the original 1981 [[Film/ClashOfTheTitans1981 Clash of the Titans]] film as the Kraken shows up in one of the first scenes before reappearing during the climax but then exaggerated in the [[Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010 2010 remake]] where in which the Kraken does not ever even show up at all until Perseus battles him in order to save Princess Andromeda towards the end.

* Averted in ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans1981'', as the Kraken shows up in one of the first scenes before reappearing during the climax but then exaggerated in the [[Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010 2010 remake]] where in which the Kraken does not ever even show up at all until Perseus battles him in order to save Princess Andromeda towards the end.

* The ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise sometimes uses this trope as well:

* Unity of ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' thinks it's just a cheap coverup for unimpressive special effects, as she explained after [[spoiler: Tip locked himself in a closet when he started turning into a werewolf, and after a lengthy build-up he turned out to be cute.]]

* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street". Doug watches a horror movie called ''The Abnormal'', about an evil alien shape-shifter whose true form is always just off-screen. Doug can't bring himself to watch TheReveal near the end of the movie and ends up having nightmares about it. After repeatedly trying and failing to keep his eyes open through the reveal of the Abnormal's true form, Doug finally works up the nerve to watch the film one last time... and discovers [[NightmareRetardant the monster is just a guy in a cheap suit with an obvious zipper on the back]].

----

->''"They're taking a very restrained approach to this, so much like'' Film/{{Jaws}} ''did -- Creator/StevenSpielberg didn't always show the beast, [yet] the essence is present and it's there and it's moving and you know and it's creepy and it's -- so the tension will mount for sure."''

This law emerges from [[ObscuredSpecialEffects the cost of special effects]] and the desire to [[NothingIsScarier keep the audience in suspense]] until [[JustHereForGodzilla the "good stuff" appears]]. It has become a standard feature of monster movies.

** In the 2014 ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' film, this trope is annoyingly exaggerated with Godzilla at the very least in part since Godzilla didn't ever even appear on-screen at all until exactly fifty-five minutes into the film, and he didn't have any more than just a few seconds of screentime until the final act of the film on top of that. [[CriticalDissonance Critics loved this approach]], but [[JustHereForGodzilla the fans easily did not]] for obvious reasons, but the sequel, ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 King of the Monsters]]'', outright averts this trope entirely as you thankfully clearly see Godzilla right at the very beginning of the film.

* ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. Further justified in that Spielberg didn't like the model of the shark used in the film and it kept malfunctioning during film, so he ensured as little of it was shown on camera as possible, often using [=POV=] shots to indicate his presence instead. Besides, [[TruthInTelevision great whites are ambush predators that perpetually lurk below the ocean surface anyway and thus have no reason to just go around revealing themselves]].

* Majorly [[AvertedTrope averted]] in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' with the [[StockDinosaurs Carnotaurus]] as the species fully shows up during [[DaylightHorror broad daylight]] and also during just the film's very first scene no less but then [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] with the [[RaptorAttack Velociraptors]] in that they don't show up until several scenes later, even though they're still fully shown right when they first appear on-screen, however.

* Majorly [[AvertedTrope averted]] in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/Dinosaur'' with the [[StockDinosaurs Carnotaurus]] as the species fully shows up during [[DaylightHorror broad daylight]] and also during just the film's very first scene no less but then [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] with the [[RaptorAttack Velociraptors]] in that they don't show up until several scenes later, even though they're still fully shown right when they first appear on-screen, however.

* A unique [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] of this trope occurs within ''Film/AQuietPlace'' as one of the "Death Angels" suddenly rushes onto the screen and into full view during just the first several minutes and also during broad daylight no less when it at first seems that the fictional species won't be fully revealed until much later on, and then ''Film/AQuietPlacePart2'' simply outright averts this trope in that the creatures are seen in full view quite a lot throughout the film's runtime much like the ''Film/PacificRim'' Kaiju mentioned above.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit'' goes to lengths to avoid giving away the Were-Rabbit's appearance (and identity) for the movie's first half, including JawsFirstPersonPerspective shots.

** The ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'' doesn't ever show up until about halfway through both the [[Film/JurassicPark first film]] and the [[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark second film]], and while it may be easy to forget with just [[StockDinosaurs how ubiquitous they've become since the film's release]], living ''[[RaptorAttack Velociraptors]]'' don't ever appear on screen until about two-thirds of the way through the very same two films.

* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent runs'' on this trope; the first glimpse of a monster is a silhouette hobbling through the fog much like in the above page image, but it doesn't reappear in that area, but the suspense alone stops you from finding out, and even if you try to get a decent look at the monster later on, the game forces you to stop to keep it as scary as possible as the mere [[EldritchAbomination grotesqueness of it]] alone causes your character to lose sanity just by looking at it, ''increasing the likelihood of being found and killed unless you look away'', but unfortunately, the marketing department didn't get the memo and put said monster right on the very cover.

* In ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs'', in a similar thematic vein to each of the ''Franchise/{{JurassicPark}}'' franchise examples mentioned directly below within the "Live-Action Films" folder, Rudy The Albino ''Baryonyx'' gets this trope's treatment at first in that he's never even mentioned at all until nearly half-way through the runtime, and on top of that, before the climatic sequence where in which he's finally fully shown in the flesh while being completely unobscured by smoke, darkness, or even fog, we only ever see certain parts of him such as his legs, torso, arms, shadow, and finally his [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red-eyed]] silhouette.

* Averted in ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans1981'', as the Kraken shows up in one of the first scenes before reappearing during the climax, but played straight in the remake ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010'' where in which the Kraken does not ever even show up at all until Perseus battles him in order to save Princess Andromeda towards the end.

* In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', the monster is visible (as Robert Patrick in police blues) from the beginning, but its superpowers and also its stunning visual effects are slowly but surely trickled in as per Monster Delay. The powers are hinted at with first encounter, their lethality is realized with the death of the foster parents, and they're fully exploited to the limits in the double-finale.

* Smaug doesn't appear in the entire first ''[[Film/TheHobbit Hobbit]]'' movie except for brief glimpses of his hide and legs, and a close-up of his [[EyeAwaken eye]] in TheStinger. A lot of people went into the second film [[JustHereForGodzilla mainly to see the full-body reveal]], and they were not disappointed.

* ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. Further justified in that Spielberg didn't like the model of the shark used in the film and it kept malfunctioning during film, so he ensured as little of it was shown on camera as possible, often using [=POV=] shots to indicate its presence instead. Besides, [[TruthInTelevision great whites are ambush predators that perpetually lurk below the ocean surface anyway, and thus have no reason to just go around revealing themselves]].

* The title character in 1957's ''Film/NightOfTheDemon''. The director, Creator/JacquesTourneur, originally wanted the demon [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane never to appear at all]], but the studio were insistent.

-->-- '''Creator/BryanCranston on Creator/GarethEdwards' approach to''' ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}''

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ComicBook/{{Galactus}}. In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour #48'', Galactus, who is probably the largest and most omnipotent bad guy in the Marvel pantheon (at that time), does not appear until the very last panel.

* Daemon in the Fanfic ''[[FanFic/TamersForeverSeries Tamers Forever]]'', lampshaded by the author.
-->Episode five and Daemon hasn't arrived to Shinjuku... *sigh* Oh well, I just hope I actually get him in there before chapter eight, and I expect to finish this story in twenty chapters in the worst-case scenario.

** In ''Film/{{ThePredator}}'', this trope is outright averted in that we fully see the Yautjas right from the very beginning of its runtime along with the brand-new ''upgraded'' Yautjas who are introduced during the events of this film.
** In ''Film/{{Prey2022}}'', this trope is used again as the primal Yautja is cloaked at first but then made visible later on.

* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent runs'' on this trope; the first glimpse of a monster is a silhouette hobbling through the fog. [[spoiler: It doesn't reappear in that area, but the suspense alone stops you from finding out.]] Even if you try to get a decent look at the monster later on, the game forces you to stop to keep it as scary as possible. The mere [[EldritchAbomination grotesqueness of it]] causes you character to lose sanity just by looking at it, ''increasing the likelihood of being found and killed unless you look away.'' Unfortunately, the marketing department didn't get the memo and put said monster right on the cover.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' brings up the Archdemon as the rallying force behind the [[TheHorde Darkspawn Horde]] very early on but it's not until much later in the game that you actually learn what it is and what it looks like ([[spoiler:a giant corrupted dragon]]). Throughout the game, you come in contact with it maybe three times: twice in cutscenes (in a nightmare, which only shows glimpses of it, and down in the Deep Roads, where you first see it in its entirety) and once in the [[FinalBoss very last]] BossFight.
* In ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'', much like [[Film/{{Alien}} the film]] it's a pseudo-sequel to, it takes a damned long time for the Xenomorph to show up, and you're a half hour in before you meet your first corpse which was killed by ''something'', about 45 minutes in before you meet your first survivor who's panicked and claiming ''something'' is on the ship killing everyone, an hour before that ''something'' kills its first on-screen victim, and about an hour and 15 minutes before you get to see that ''something'' in all its horrifying glory.

** In ''Film/{{Prey}}'', this trope is used again as the primal Yautja is cloaked at first but then made visible later on.

* Played straight in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' in the build-up to revealing the appearance of Voldemort's "vessel" that spans ''the first four books''.
** For an example that's specific to a single book, there's the Basilisk from the second book. We spend most of the book only hearing its voice, and not even being aware of its true nature (although the fact that Harry is the only one who can understand Parseltongue makes it fairly obvious in hindsight). It's not until the final act that the creature's identity is revealed, and even longer after that until we finally see it in the flesh. In fact, the Basilisk is only seen by the characters for less than a single chapter.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** {{Downplayed}} with the [[Characters/SupernaturalMonstersAndSupernaturalBeings wendigo]]. At first, we see almost nothing of it save for a shadow moving too fast to make out. Towards the episode's climax, we get clear shots of its upper-body's silhouetted outline and a brief glimpse of its face, but we never fully see it, creating NothingIsScarier.

* In ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'', much like [[Film/{{Alien}} the film]] it's a pseudo-sequel to, it takes a damned long time for the xenomorph to show up. You're a half hour in before you meet your first corpse which was killed by ''something'', about 45 minutes in before you meet your first survivor who's panicked and claiming ''something'' is on the ship killing everyone, an hour before that ''something'' kills its first on-screen victim, and about an hour and 15 minutes before you get to see that ''something'' in all its horrifying glory.

* A single playthrough of ''VideoGame/FromNextDoor'' takes around 50 minutes and you don't get your first glimpse of [[spoiler:[[HumanoidAbomination the monster]] from next door]] until you're about 20 minutes in. Things escalate from there [[spoiler:although it takes a bit longer for the monster to be fully revealed]].

* ''Film/{{Nope}}'': Mostly accomplished by ObscuredSpecialEffects. The UFO spends a lot of time hiding in cloud cover, so you spend a lot of the early part of the movie wondering what exactly you're looking at. [[spoiler:Even after the UFO is shown more closely, it's mostly featureless with the exception of its mouth hole up until near the end when it completely unfurls itself.]]

* In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', the monster is visible (as Robert Patrick in police blues) from the beginning, but its superpowers (and stunning visual effects) are trickled in as per Monster Delay. The powers are hinted at with first encounter, their lethality is realized with the death of the foster parents, and they're fully exploited to the limits in the double-finale.

** Presumably to differentiate their version of Kong from the then-relatively recent 2005 version, the Franchise/MonsterVerse makes a point of averting this where in ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', he fully appears during just the first few minutes of the film, and ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'''s ''very first shot'' fully shows the big ape while he's completely unobscured and lazing about within his jungle home, easily making for this trope's most hardcore aversion of all time, and Godzilla also appears relatively early in that movie too on top of that.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'': The Kraken's body is briefly seen when Will is underwater after Davy Jones' pet attacks Bellamy's ship. At the climax, the Kraken shows its large fanged mouth to eat Jack Sparrow. The full body of the creature is not revealed until [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd the third film]] [[spoiler:with its corpse stranded on a beach after Davy Jones is forced to kill it]].
* ''Film/{{Predator}}'': Only the view of the soldiers from the predator's eye-view, then a view of the cloaked predator, then close-ups of him patching up his wound, a full-body view, and finally the unmasking.

* ''{{Film/Them}}'' spends most of its first act as a very minimalistic police procedural type story, showing us very little... Though we regularly hear a [[HellIsThatNoise strange whirring noise]] coming from over the next hill, we don't see its source... until [[spoiler: a giant ant wanders into the shot.]] From this point on, the movie becomes a lot less shy.
* ''Film/VanHelsing'': Dracula's demon form is only glimpsed through shadows and is seen from the distance. During the film's final battle, the monster is finally seen when he faces Van Helsing's [[spoiler:werewolf form]].
* ''Film/PacificRim'' looks at this trope and says "[[AvertedTrope What's that?]]". There are ''lots'' of monsters, they spend a ''lot'' of time on screen right from the start and much of their bodies are shown. This is justified both in and out of universe; in-universe, the majority of the film is set many years after {{Kaiju}} started appearing so everyone's already used to them, out of universe, the film's clearly intended to be a very fun MechVsBeast movie rather than a serious thriller, so it gives the audience as much of that as possible.
* ''Film/PacificRimUprising'' plays this trope straight, however. While the robots are shown quickly and frequently, the kaiju, with the exception of [[spoiler:the kaiju brain-controlled rogue Jaegers]], don't appear until the last quarter of the film and there's only one fight scene with them.

* {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in Creator/StephenKing's'' Literature/{{It}}'', which first introduces Pennywise the MonsterClown as Its avatar, then later reveals Its physical form to be more akin to a giant spider. ''That'' is only a partial manifestation of Its interdimensional form, which is even more terrifying to the characters. Just perceiving It risks making you [[spoiler: lose your mind]].

** In the 1998 American ''Film/{{Godzilla|1998}}'', a monster the size of a skyscraper manages to travel halfway around the world while being stalked by the US military, attacks Manhattan, and yet still does ever not fully appear on-screen for forty-five minutes, and on top of that, all of the marketing also hid Godzilla's face, only ever showing very brief glimpses of his foot, his eye, and his tail.
** In ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'', this trope is annoyingly exaggerated with Godzilla at the very least in part since Godzilla didn't ever even appear on-screen at all until exactly fifty-five minutes into the film, and he didn't have any more than just a few seconds of screentime until the final act of the film on top of that. [[CriticalDissonance Critics loved this approach]], but [[JustHereForGodzilla the fans easily did not]] for obvious reasons, but the sequel, ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 King of the Monsters]]'', outright averts this trope entirely as you thankfully clearly see Godzilla right at the very beginning of the film.

** In the [[''Film/JurassicPark'' first film]], it was even deliberately done during the film's very production as the trailers did not show the animals' full body appearances until the very theatrical release of the film causing the ''Brachiosaurus''' appearance to the audience to be just as stunning as [[AudienceSurrogate the in-universe visitors' reactions]] since dinosaurs had simply never even looked that good on-screen before at all.
** The ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'' doesn't show up until about halfway through ''Film/JurassicPark'' and ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark''. And while it may be easy to forget with [[StockDinosaurs how ubiquitous they've become since the film's release]], living ''[[RaptorAttack Velociraptors]]'' don't appear on screen until about two-thirds of the way through the same films.
** While a talking [[AllJustADream dream]] version of a raptor appears on the plane ride to Isla Sorna in ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', real raptors don't show up until about the midpoint. Uncharacteristically averted with the ''Spinosaurus'' and the ''T. rex'', which come pretty abruptly onto the scene in the frantic first few scenes on the island. The spinosaur, at least, is only given brief glimpses at first until it rises up to roar at the survivors in the airplane after eating Nash.
** The ''[[MixAndMatchCritters Indominus rex]]'' is briefly seen as a hatchling at the beginning of ''Film/JurassicWorld'' and can be faintly seen slinking behind foliage when Simon Masrani comes to inspect the new attraction, but it doesn't make a full onscreen appearance until it is ready to break out, and even then doesn't appear in full view until the first attempt at recapture. [[spoiler:There's also the ''Tyrannosaurus'' (the very same animal from the first film, as it happens), whom Zach and Grey only faintly see past a bunch of other tourists at one point but who doesn't make a full onscreen appearance until the last quarter-hour, when Claire lures it out to fight ''Indominus'']].
* ''Film/KingKong1933''. Justified in that the main characters have to travel for a long time in order to see the monster. In the [[Film/KingKong2005 2005 remake]], it takes more than an hour before the big gorilla appears and even longer before he's fully revealed.
** Presumably to differentiate their version of Kong from the then-relatively recent 2005 version, the Franchise/MonsterVerse makes a point of averting this: in ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', he appears in the first few minutes of the movie, and ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'''s ''very second shot'' shows the big ape, completely unobscured, lazing around his jungle home. Godzilla also appears relatively early in that movie, too.

** In ''Film/{{Aliens Vs Predator Requiem}}'', among other tropes prominently seen throughout the franchise as a whole, this trope is in fact outright [[AvertedTrope averted]] this time around in that the Yautjas, "Chet" the Predalien, the {{FaceHugger}}s, the {ChestBurster}}s, and the adult Xenomorph Drones are all fully shown together for the first time during just the very opening sequence alone, but shockingly enough, the Ovomorphs are actually literally never even shown at all during the events of this installment.

* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'', as it's very closely related to each of the Franchise/{{Godzilla}} franchise examples mentioned below in that you don't get to see the entire thing until nearly half the movie has gone by. Not only is its appearance rather hard to explain without seeing the movie, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking it's quite ugly too]]. For all films, the entire strategy behind their marketing campaigns was to avoid showing the monsters so that audiences would go see the movies to find out what they looked like for themselves.

* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
** ''Film/Godzilla1954'', where Godzilla's actions are keenly felt in an attack on a fishing ship, and later, a small town, long before we get our first good look at him.
** ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla'', the 1984 reboot and first of the ''heisei'' era of Godzilla movies, likewise builds up suspense around Godzilla, with his presence instead shown through sunken ships or floating derelicts infested with [[ProportionatelyPonderousParasites his gigantic lice]], long before he shows up in person.
** The 1998 American ''Film/{{Godzilla|1998}}''. A monster the size of a skyscraper manages to travel halfway around the world while being stalked by the US military, attacks Manhattan, and yet still does not fully appear on-screen for forty-five minutes. All of the marketing also hid Godzilla's face, only showing very brief glimpses of his foot, his eye, or his tail.
** ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' (2014) used this with Godzilla, at least in part. Godzilla didn't fully appear until about halfway through the movie, and he didn't have more than a few seconds of screentime until the final act of the film. [[CriticalDissonance Critics loved this approach]], [[JustHereForGodzilla fans were more split about it]]. The sequel, ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 King of the Monsters]]'', averts this, and you see Godzilla clearly, right at the very beginning.

* ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'': As in the book, Salazar Slytherin's basilisk is only heard as a voice by Harry and moves through Hogwarts' pipes. The giant serpent makes the appearance when it's summoned by the heir of Slytherin, [[spoiler:Tom Riddle, the real persona of Lord Voldemort]], to fight and kill Harry.
* ''Film/TheHaunting1999'': Hugh Crain's ghost at first appears as an unseen supernatural force that has full control of the house. Until Nell calls for him in the final battle, when Crain makes his appearance as a tall monstrous humanoid spirit. This is in contrast to the original ''Film/TheHaunting1963'', where we never saw ''[[NothingIsScarier anything]]''.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
** It was deliberately done during the film's production. The trailers did not show the animals' full body appearances until the very release of the film causing the ''Brachiosaurus''' appearance to the audience as stunning as [[AudienceSurrogate the in-universe visitors' reactions]]. Dinosaurs had simply never looked this good on screen before.