 During the sequence in which Newt and Ripley are locked in MedLab,  Ripley is attacked by one of the two facehuggers after setting off  the sprinklers, resulting in the facehugger wrapping its tail around  her neck after jumping off of a table leg. To film this, director  James Cameron (I) (qv) had the Special Effects crew design a  facehugger fully capable of walking towards Ripley on its own, but  to make it appear as if it jumps off of the table, and Cameron then  used backwards