Group will bring terror to parade, screen

Kory Rabenold Productions is upping the scare-factor ante this year by rolling out its new fun house float all over local streets.

Mr. Pickles, played by Kory Rabenold, and his band of carnies will terrorize crowds this Saturday during the 110th Northern Lehigh Halloween parade starting at 6 p.m.

The float, a brightly painted and creepily decorated 37-foot-long trailer, is a moving funhouse complete with trap doors and spooky 10-person crew.

“We’re new carnies, like someone you could pass on the street. When we’re in makeup we don’t break character,” Rabenold said.

“We tried not to do anything store bought. We had everyone pull out their own pieces for the carnies and tried to keep it as original as possible,” said co-creator and Rabenold’s new bride, Michayla.

Rabenold says he has been a Halloween enthusiast as long as he can remember. In fact, Rabenold says he and his wife met while working at the Waldorf Hotel.

“I used to do the haunted maze in Walnutport before I went to the Waldorf,” he said.

“I started out acting at the Waldorf, then went to doing parades,” Michayla Rabenold said.

“Last year, we created our own characters and costumes and people went nuts over it. They fell in love with those characters. Then we did a trailer and people asked us when we’re doing a movie,” she said.

This summer, that’s just what the couple set out to do. The Rabenolds spent almost four seasons writing, editing, rewriting and filming their Rob Zombie-esque moving picture featuring Mr. Pickles and his family of carnies, which are featured in the float.

In the movie synopsis, Mr. Pickles and his carnies are blamed for a child’s murder in a small town. The group scatters until a year or so later when they come together on the old Pickles property and start to get revenge on the young couple who purchased the property.

“They feel the wrath of carnies who want revenge,” Michayla Rabenold said.

“My character’s, (Jinx’s) laugh is based on ‘Baby’ from the Rob Zombie movies. Those movies helped us get ideas for kill scenes and how to make them look good,” she said.

The movie moves its points of view from what the victim sees to what the killer sees and then backs out to a full scene view to amp up the scare factor, Kory Rabenold said.

Michayla Rabenold said the couple co-wrote the feature.

“I created the dialogue and he created the action, and then we just pulled it together. We would work and write until we fell asleep. It took a solid month for a good script and revision. We always had the idea, we just had to figure out the dialogue. That was the hardest part.”

She credits her theater background and the duo’s years of haunted house experience with help in developing the project.

The Kory Rabenold Production film is being created on a shoestring budget with a 10-person-crew, all who wear multiple hats in front of and behind the camera, according to director/producer/camera operator and actor, Kory.

Michayla Rabenold, co-creator/writer/actress and makeup artist, says the film and float have been time consuming, but she is excited to bring it to life.

“It’s for the love of Halloween. It’s not work, it’s fun. But we take it seriously.”

The film is taking place on Rabenold’s 10-wooded acres with a few local locations added, including Pappy’s School House.

“We are making it look like it’s in the middle of nowhere, on the Pickles’ property,” she said.

“It’s creepy being in the dark with just the spotlight on you,” she said.

According to the duo, scheduling was a hurdle to jump as the cast and crew all have day jobs and the hours of daylight have begun to shorten with the change of seasons.

“We started filming in July and shot straight through August. On weeknights, we’d be out here filming for hours, but now the weather and light is our challenge,” she said.

“We had to shoot out of order because of everyone’s schedule. It’s been nights and nights of us filming from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.”

The Rabenold Production crew plans to have the film wrapped up by the end of October. “We will edit it over the winter and are hoping to start showing it next Halloween season,” Kory said.

“We’ll be sending the film to Terror Films. They messaged me about the movie and said to send it in when it is done. We’ll branch out if it doesn’t go to that company,” he said.

Anticipation for the film continues to build as the teaser trailer has already reached 2.2K views on the crew’s Facebook page.

“It’s what we love to do, it’s Halloween all year around here,” she said.

The Pickles crew will also be featured in the annual Bethlehem parade, which has been moved to 2 p.m. Nov. 5 due to Sunday’s stormy forecast.

For more information on the film or to view the trailer, visit the production’s page: Kory Rabenold Productions @KoryRabenoldProductions.