History Main / MonsterDelay

* ''VideoGame/ColdFear'' milks this trope for all it's worth in the beginning. You know there's zombies; they're on the cover. The first JumpScare? It's a wave. The second? A silhouette of a figure through a window that's [[ParanoiaFuel gone when you go out there]]. The third? The panicked crew of the whaler shooting at you because they think ''you're'' a zombie. The fourth one, the chain dragging toward you? Literally a chain dragging on the ground. It leads you on for so long with fake scares that the eventual real one actually scares you good.
* ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'': ThatOneBoss, Nightmare, is first rendered as a shadow running rampant throughout one of the subsections. MissionControl tells Samus to ignore it and fix the crises in the other subsections. Finally, it turns out Nightmare's rampage threatens the entire station, prompting MissionControl to give its creepy backstory and dispatch Samus to destroy it. Its lair seems to be in some kind of junkyard or robot graveyard.
* ''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, that being a giant corrupted dragon, and 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]] that 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.

* Throughout the early parts of the level that introduces the Flood in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved,'', those "friendly" units that show up on your motion tracker are, in fact, infected marines. If you try to look for them, you can occasionally catch a slight glimpse of one moving about the jungle in the fog. Not to mention the moment you find Grunts and Jackals running away terrified from ''something'' firing at them from inside the structure, only to make your way inside to find nobody.
* A single playthrough of ''VideoGame/FromNextDoor'' takes around 50 minutes and you don't get your first glimpse of [[HumanoidAbomination the monster]] from next door until you're about 20 minutes in. Things escalate from there although it takes a bit longer for the monster to be fully revealed.

** 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 [[SmallTaxonomyPools 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.

** 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 she doesn't make a full on-screen appearance until she's ready to break out, and even then, she doesn't appear within full view until the first attempt at her recapture, and on top of that, this trope is also intensely exaggerated with the ''Tyrannosaurus'' who's actually even the very same specimen from the first film as it happens with Zachary and Grey only faintly seeing her past a bunch of other tourists at one point, but she doesn't make a full onscreen appearance until the very last quarter-hour when Claire lures her out to fight ''Indominus rex''.

* In ''Film/KingKong1933'', this trope is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that the main characters have to travel for a long time in order to see him, but this trope is greatly exaggerated in the [[Film/KingKong2005 2005 remake]] as it takes a whole hour for us to even ''hear'' him roaring from off within the distance someplace, and it likewise also takes even longer than that for him to actually be shown on-screen for the first time.

* ''Film/Dune2021'': The Sandworms are alluded to a lot over the course of the movie and while some attacks of them are shown, they are mostly hide in the sand and just the fangs are revealed. The full sight of the worms is [[SavedForTheSequel saved for]] ''[[Film/DunePartTwo]]''.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': The {{Artificial Zombie}}s in the abandoned Monarch outpost aren't fully seen the first several times they appear.

* In The Geeky Zoologist's [[Fanfic/JurassicWorldTheGeekyZoologist reimagining of Jurassic World]], the Indominus is only fully revealed near the end of the first book. Before that, only her overall shape and some of her body parts are seen by the POV characters.
* The first entry of the ''Fanfic/SweetsClothing'' series gives the reveal that Kevin is a werewolf, but his wolf form is obscured for the first three stories, ''The Night Off'' ending just as Kevin's transforming, and ''Love Bites'' and ''The First Change'' having really only the morning after the full moon. ''On The Loose'' finally had Kevin's wolf form be more focused on, and an included illustration shows that [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/f4a2c55db36f12c513b8b1ab974314db/e904b3f91acf11fa-30/s2048x3072/901b6778ace071475d94315d7776ca987d89b4fa.pnj it's only really a wolf in mentality and general silhouette]].

** In the 2014 ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' film, the one whose lead actor provides the above page quote, 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.

* The smoke monster on ''Series/{{Lost}}'' was not seen in full until the middle of season 2, and his nature wasn't fully understood until season 6.
* Just about every ''Series/DoctorWho'' story that has a monster, right up to the present day. Often, the actual reveal of the monster was [[SpecialEffectFailure rather a let-down]].

* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise as a whole regularly plays with this trope depending one which exact installment you're currently watching...

* 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]].

* The transformed states of the werewolves in ''Film/MyAnimal'' are primarily hidden for most of the movie, and it's only when we see [[spoiler: Henry's corpse that it turns out they look no different from regular wolves]], and even then [[spoiler: Heather's wolf form isn't shown until near the very ending]].

* Majorly [[AvertedTrope averted]] in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' with the 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.

** 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 all 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 into that movie too on top of that. Then the spin-off animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Skull Island|2023}}'' plays the trope straight again, with Kong spending the first half of the series obscured in shadow or off-camera whenever he shows up, before Charlie and the audience finally see his full animated appearance when he's brooding at an ancient Iwi temple.

** 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 all 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 into that movie too on top of that.

* 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 soon discovers that [[NightmareRetardant the monster is just a guy in a cheap suit with an obvious zipper on the back]].

** In ''Film/{{Predator}}'', only the view of the soldiers from the Yautja's eye-view is visible at first, then a view of the cloaked Yautja with his glowing yellow eyes, then close-ups of him patching up his wound, then a full-body view, and finally the infamous unmasking moment that reveals just what his "real face" looks like.

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

* The kaiju film, ''Film/UltraQTheMovieLegendOfTheStars'' takes it's time with the revelation of it's monster, Nagira. It's first appearance is in a construction site at night where all the audience see is it's tail, smashing into machinery and excavators, and it's roaring before long-distance shot of some gigantic creature's silhouette in the dark. And then a glimpse of it's head as it attacks later on, and ''finally'' we see the monster completely when it destroys a coastal city in the climax.

** In ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'', this trope is significantly [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] when compared to the first two films in that the Ovomorphs show up immediately during the film's opening sequence along with the {{FaceHugger}}s and that we also even get to fully see the lone Xenomorph Runner both in his ChestBurster form and in his adult form not too much later than that.
** In ''Film/{{Alien Resurrection}}'', this trope is downplayed again in that the Cloned Queen's ChestBurster and adult forms are both shown during the film's very opening sequence and that the Ovomorphs, {{FaceHugger}}s, and adult cloned Xenomorph Drones are all also fully shown for the first time just a handful of minutes later than that.
** In ''Film/{{AVP Alien Vs Predator}}'', this trope is downplayed once again in that the Yautja starships and tech are shown immediately into the film's runtime and that the Yautjas themselves, the Antarctic Queen, the Ovomorphs, the {{FaceHugger}}s, the {{ChestBurster}}s, and the adult Xenomorph Drones are all also fully shown during the film's first act on top of that.
** 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.

* Averted in the original 1981 [[Film/ClashOfTheTitans1981 Clash of the Titans]] film as the Kraken actually shows up during one of the first few scenes before later 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.

** In ''Film/{{Predator 2}}'', much the same thing happens with this installment's main Yautja antagonist, but the corresponding moments mentioned directly above each happen significantly earlier within the runtime than in the first film, and on top of that, we also even get to see nine other Yautjas near the end of the film just following the main one's death.

** In ''Film/{{The Predator}}'', 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/{{Prey 2022}}'', this trope is used again as the primal Yautja is cloaked at first but then made visible later on.

* ''Film/{{Super 8}}'' doesn't show the alien at all for the first few attack scenes. During the climax, we briefly see a strobe-lit shot of its face. The alien is fully revealed at the end.

* The first entry of the ''Fanfic/SweetsClothing'' series gives the reveal that Kevin is a werewolf, but his wolf form is obscured for the first three stories, ''The Night Off'' ending just as Kevin's transforming, and ''Love Bites'' and ''The First Change'' having really only the morning after the full moon. ''On The Loose'' finally had Kevin's wolf form be more focused on, and an included illustration shows that [[spoiler: [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/f4a2c55db36f12c513b8b1ab974314db/e904b3f91acf11fa-30/s2048x3072/901b6778ace071475d94315d7776ca987d89b4fa.pnj it's only really a wolf in mentality and general silhouette]].]]

* In The Geeky Zoologist's [[Fanfic/JurassicWorld2020 reimagining of Jurassic World]], the Indominus is only fully revealed near the end of the first book. Before that, only her overall shape and some of her body parts are seen by the POV characters.

* {{Zigzagged}} in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'':
** {{Downplayed}} with Overworld hostile mobs that generally appear several minutes into a given playthrough at night and in dark areas.
** PlayedStraight with [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Nether]] mobs that don't appear until the player builds an obsidian portal to the AlternateDimension and lights it with a flint-and-steel much later in the game.
** {{Exaggerated}} with the [[FinalBoss Ender Dragon]] that exclusively appears in the End dimension, which requires players to place twelve Eyes of Ender onto an End portal to access.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Slender}}'', the Slenderman doesn't ever actually show up on-screen until after you either collect your first page or after the game itself's been running idly by for exactly five minutes because the general gameplay mechanics make him be entirely inactive until immediately after either one of the aforementioned events takes place, whichever specific one happens first, though.
* ''VideoGame/SlenderTheArrival'': Intensely {{zigzagged}}:
** {{Subverted}} with Slenderman. During the first chapter, just as everything seems peaceful, Slenderman briefly appears outside Kate's house.
** PlayedStraight with "The Chaser." You don't encounter her until the third chapter.
** {{Exaggerated}} with Charlie Matheson Junior. His poster is seen during the first chapter, but Charlie himself doesn't appear until the end of the fifth chapter.

[[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_778.jpg]]
[[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/GodzillaVsDestoroyah Burning Godzilla]] himself?! Aw, no!]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', this is mostly averted with Mei's panda form. It is revealed starting with her eye, then feet, followed by the top of her head, and lastly her torso before we see the whole thing a few seconds later. It is played more straight with [[spoiler:Ming's]] with the first glimpse being shadowed, followed by her foot, then silhouetted head before she shows up fully.

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