Blame my mother... really.

I can remember watching all sorts of weird, crazy and utterly horrible movies as a kid. My folks would pack us into our VW squareback and my sister and I would sit in the backseat, cozy in our pajamas, and cram freshly popped popcorn down our throats.

Yes, we were at the drive-in.

We watched all sorts of grade z monster movies like Sssssssand Bugand the occasional Japanese creature feature like War of the Gargantuas.I especially remember watching this one crazy film where people in a hi-rise complex were throwing up all over each other, getting naked and doing strange things...

My mother told us to close our eyes for that one.

I would discover later that that film was David Cronenberg's They Came From Within(also known as Shivers).

When I was twelve, my mother took me and a buddy to see a new sci-fi monster film that everybody was talking about. It was rated R for good reason - gore, horror and the kind of jump-scares that were sending people fleeing from the theaters. Of course, this didn't stop her from taking us right on in.

That movie was Alien, and suddenly I realized that monster movies needn't be grade-z shlock. They could be elegant. Thought-provoking. And still scary as hell.

Thanks Ridley.

And thanks, mom.