Oli’s got a spooktacular surprise up his sleeve

HE’S become known as the king of Halloween and was the star of a creepy clown Pennywise video which was viewed by more than 21 million people.

Oli Keenan is someone who goes all out for Halloween and transforms the family home into elaborate movie scenes as he takes on terrifying characters all in the name of fun.

Before Covid, hundreds of people would flock to the family home in Clydebank to see the spooky spectacles put on by the 24-year-old and after the disappointment of having to cancel last year’s plans due to restrictions, he is now back with a new character.

Oli said: “I just love everything about Halloween and it is a chance for people to have some fun. We have loved seeing the smile on people’s faces at our past events and it will be great to be back this year. People even come up to me in the supermarket and ask me ‘what am I going to be this year?’, but we are keeping it firmly under wraps.”

It will be no mean feat to keep it quiet as they will be creating their own set for the October 31 big reveal and transforming the family garden in Linnvale into a fright night special.

“I have been working on the set design for a few months and I will be getting my family involved in helping me put it altogether. We won’t put anything up until the day just to keep the suspense going,” he added. In past years Oli, who studied acting at college, has played the Jack Nicholson character, pictured, from The Shining and everyone’s favourite scary clown Pennywise from the movie It based on the Stephen King horror story.

Oli added: “I’m Pennywise all year round now as the character has become that popular. I get dressed up as him every Wednesday and record birthday messages for people, although I did get a request to record one for a wedding which was a little strange.”

However, dressing up in full scary clown make up can come with its professional hazards.

“I’ve had to answer the door to the postman a few times and I did get a funny look,” he added. “There was another time we had someone round to fix a leak and I explained ‘don’t mind me I’m just in my work clothes.

“Word certainly spread about Pennywise and I was recently asked to record a video for a cinema in Texas. They had contacted me as they were having a special screening of IT and wanted a different way of introducing it.”

Pre-covid Oli had been auditioning for parts and had been due to film a Netflix series, but now he is concentrating on his virtual character world.