A Nanaimo couples’ horror-inspired maternity photo shoot in a local pumpkin patch has turned into a viral sensation that’s gone around the world.
Todd Cameron and his wife Nicole are expecting their first child on Oct. 17 and decided to break from tradition with a photo shoot inspired by the chestburster scene from the 1979 film Alien.
“We brought some blood, splattered ourselves and basically just had a good time out there,” said Cameron. “We just put it together to make our friends and family chuckle.”
The Dad-to-be was rummaging through a garage sale this past summer when he found a silicone ‘chestburster’ model.
“I brought it home and put it together and painted it up and as I was doing that I thought it would be a pretty hilarious way to post some maternity pictures,” said Cameron. “I talked to my wife and she was all game for it.”
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Local photographer Li Carter captured the sequence that starts as an innocent maternity shoot in the pumpkin patch at at McNab’s Corn Maze in Ladysmith before an alien bursts through Nicole’s stomach and tries to make its escape. Eventually Todd captures the young extraterrestrial and comforts it with a soother and bottle of blood.
In less than 24 hours, the photos have been shared over 140,000 times and garnered over 60,000 likes. The couple have received media requests from across the United States including the Good Morning America website.
“I’ve gotten messages from people in the UK and Brazil saying how much they’re inspired, or that we have a really lucky kid on the way who’s got a couple of fun parents,” he said. “It’s been really cool to see the outpouring of people’s support and enjoyment for a project we put some time into.”
The couple actually met on Halloween when Cameron was hosting a karaoke show and Nicole “stumbled in as the best zombie I’ve ever seen.”
“She’s no stranger to getting herself full of blood for a costume,” Cameron said.
Alien is also among his favourite from the thriller genre and his late father’s name is James Cameron, although there is no relation to the director.
“Something about that iconic scene with the chestbuster coming out of the body I remember being a memorable one in terms of how realistic and freaky that was,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the Camerons have broken from tradition in the spirit of a good laugh.
Last year they made headlines for a proposal, wedding and baby announcement all based around the Back to the Future Trilogy.
“We just like to do things a little bit differently,” he said. “There’s a bunch of films I’m really into and it’s just kind of fun to find a way to incorporate that and make people laugh at the same time.”
The real surprise for the Camerons arrive any day.
“We’re not sure whether it’s a boy or a girl but we’re just hoping that it’s human,” he said.
