The Aliens in Aliens …

The Terminators in the Terminator movies …

The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park …

The monsters in Monster Squad …

The scissor hands in Edward Scissorshands …

The amazing armor suits in Iron Man …

My favorite movie monster of all time, the Predator …

… and so many, many other memorable creature characters were created by Stan Winston, who lost his battle with cancer on Sunday. He was only 62.

I go to the movies to be entertained and to be taken away, and guys like Stan Winston are a big part of why I love movies so much.

He was a master craftsman who still believed in doing things the old-fashioned way at a time when too much of Hollywood is relying far too heavily on shoddy computer effects. Stan built his special effects from the ground up, and they never looked anything less than entirely real (and often flat-out terrifying).

Please check out this massive tribute to Stan on Ain’t It Cool, and thanks to our friend, fellow blogger and one-time house guest Kyle for sharing the sad news with me yesterday.

We’ll miss you as much as we’ll miss your work, good sir, and I’m so glad we had you for as long as we did. Like a true legend, you will live on forever through your work.