A Nanaimo couples鈥� horror-inspired maternity photo shoot in a local pumpkin patch has turned into a viral sensation that鈥檚 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.

鈥淲e brought some blood, splattered ourselves and basically just had a good time out there,鈥� said Cameron. 鈥淲e just put it together to make our friends and family chuckle.鈥�

The Dad-to-be was rummaging through a garage sale this past summer when he found a silicone 鈥榗hestburster鈥� model.

鈥淚 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,鈥� said Cameron. 鈥淚 talked to my wife and she was all game for it.鈥�

captured the sequence that starts as an innocent maternity shoot in the pumpkin patch at at McNab鈥檚 Corn Maze in Ladysmith before an alien bursts through Nicole鈥檚 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.

鈥淚鈥檝e gotten messages from people in the UK and Brazil saying how much they鈥檙e inspired, or that we have a really lucky kid on the way who鈥檚 got a couple of fun parents,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been really cool to see the outpouring of people鈥檚 support and enjoyment for a project we put some time into.鈥�

The couple actually met on Halloween when Cameron was hosting a karaoke show and Nicole 鈥渟tumbled in as the best zombie I鈥檝e ever seen.鈥�

鈥淪he鈥檚 no stranger to getting herself full of blood for a costume,鈥� Cameron said.

Alien is also among his favourite from the thriller genre and his late father鈥檚 name is James Cameron, although there is no relation to the director.

鈥淪omething 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,鈥� he said.

This isn鈥檛 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

鈥淲e just like to do things a little bit differently,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a bunch of films I鈥檓 really into and it鈥檚 just kind of fun to find a way to incorporate that and make people laugh at the same time.鈥�

The real surprise for the Camerons could arrive any day.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not sure whether it鈥檚 a boy or a girl but we鈥檙e just hoping that it鈥檚 human,鈥� he said.