Philly Couple Make Epic Halloween Baby Announcement Video

Soon-to-be parents Leslie “Les” Rivera and Megan Mazarick.

In the old days, when you were pregnant, you’d get on the phone and call everyone you knew to give them the good news, maybe email your close friends, the old college roommate. Hell, an ultrasound postcard would have been really, really innovative. But these days, the world demands more of you, and one Philadelphia couple has stepped up to the plate in a major way, releasing a two-minute baby announcement in the style of a horror movie thriller. And it’s awesome.

Leslie “Les” Rivera, 40, and Megan Mazarick, 35, of Fishtown are expecting their first child, a girl, on October 31st. Her name is Mazarick Rivera, taking mom’s last name as her first, which seems like a pretty democratic way to handle things. They picked the name before the couple knew the baby’s sex, figuring that “Mazarick” would work just as well whether the baby turned out to be a boy or a girl. Democratic and practical. Love these people.

Rivera has been making films for nearly 20 years (he’s also an original member of hip-hop dance company Rennie Harris Puremovement, and he has a band called El Malito). When he turned 40 last March, he bought himself a GoPro. Mazarick was eight weeks pregnant.

“I decided I would document our pregnancy,” he says. “That ended after about four months since Megan got tired of having a camera stuck in her face 24/7. I don’t blame her.”

But he still managed to get footage of the couple’s trip to Puerto Rico, where Rivera was born and raised, and another trip to Cairo, Egypt, where Mazarick, a choreographer, had a dance residency. Her work has taken her to Poland and Australia, and she’ll be showing new work in Singapore in January. Rivera and Mazarick have also performed together, in a dance piece called “Love-Joy-Diver.” Here’s a photo from that production:

Photo by Mark Simpson

Rivera and Mazarick have been together for 11 years. They met at a dance benefit at the old Five Spot club in Old City.

Rivera says that response to the video has been overwhelming since he released it on Monday night.

“I made that video for kicks,” he adds. “And it’s doing better than the music videos I’ve done for my band.”

Follow @VictorFiorillo on Twitter.