THE masterminds behind a viral Halloween video that’s been viewed almost 10 million times in a single day have promised to do something even scarier next year.
Oli Keenan and his little brother Flynn became viral sensations this week after dressing as Pennywise the Dancing Clown and Georgie from the hit Stephen King book IT and its recent film remake.
In a clip posted online by a parent in Clydebank who took his children trick-or-treating on Wednesday night, a silent boy, dressed as the character George and holding a red balloon, was seen opening the door of a house, completely decorated in IT-themed garb.
Oli terrifyingly emerged dressed as the creepy clown.
While one of the youngsters remained put, one ran off petrified as Oli perfectly embodied the scary character, voice and all, originally portrayed by actor Bill Skarsgård in the 2017 adaptation.
Now, the 22-year-old former acting student has outlined bigger and better plans for local residents next year.
The Linnvale man told the Evening Times: “We seriously want to up our game next year. We’ve got some ideas about doing an enclosed walkthrough. It’ll entail a lot of building. We want to bring people into the house to walk through and get into the back garden. We want to organise it a bit more. It gets busier every year with crowds gathering outside. We want to structure it more to get the most out of it.”
Flynn Keenan (left) and his brother Oli (right) at their Linnvale home
Oli said he’s always been a fan of the book and the films, particularly last year’s remake. He said: “I knew instantly at the end of last year that this was what I wanted to do this year. We spoke about it and thought, ‘Well, why not do a full theme around IT?’.
“I watched the film and clips on YouTube and studied it a lot and took bits and pieces from it to learn Pennywise’s voice and mannerisms.”
Unsurprisingly, Oli described how Halloween has been “big” at his home for the past four years. He said: “It’s something we’ve always been into. My birthday’s on the 29th and my mum’s is the 30th. Halloween has always been huge for us.
“We’ve tried to top ourselves every year. Last year, we did the Grand High Witch from The Witches, but this year really took off with Pennywise. Everyone loved it.”
Oli said the idea behind it was simply to “bring some joy to the kids and have a good laugh all night.”
He’s been left shocked at the response to the clip, and said: “When I saw the views climbing and climbing, I was so confused. I think people actively enjoy being scared and that’s why they come.
“The kids coming to the door loved it. There were tears, some crying, but it’s always the parents who are killing themselves laughing. Then you know you’re okay to go for it a bit. The kids come back every year. They enjoy being frightened.”
Thankfully, Oli said there have never been any bad experiences with children or their parents. “There’s always been a good response,” he explained. “When doing something this terrifying, I gauge the ages of the kids and how crazy to go or how to hold it back.”
Oli’s brother Flynn played a pivotal role on night night as he portrayed Georgie.
The 10-year-old was “instantly game for it,” said Oli, who added: “He was the one who came up with the idea of what to do at the door and the ‘You’’ll float too’ part. He had blood capsules in his mouth that he bit and blood ran down his mouth.
“We did a couple of mock door run-throughs to see how it would work and how to handle all the different ages of kids.”
After a lot of preparation for the role, Oli’s not been left with the post-Halloween blues “It was nice the next day to get feedback from people after staying in character the previous night. It’s good to hear people say nice things. The day after Halloween, we just start prepping for the next year.”
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Creepy Halloween costumes in Glasgow
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What is your response?Jordan, age 9, Glasgow “Georgie after encountering Pennywise†😱
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What is your response?Maria’s 1/2 n 1/2 creepy Halloween costumes 🎃
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What is your response?Orla Rose age 5 . Dressed as Cardi B .
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What is your response?Our cash for kids halloween walkthrough
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What is your response?Our cash for kids walkthrough
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What is your response?Ebony age 10 as a pregnant zombie..
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What is your response?My 2 sons, Michael Todd aged 6 dressed as ‘Freddy Fazbear’ from five night at freddys and Harry Newlands aged 1 dressed as a ‘lil lawbreaker’ they both had an amazing Halloween and Harry’s first time trick or treating!
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What is your response?Me and my Frankenstein and wee pirate
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What is your response?Courtney age 11 as claw machine
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What is your response?This is aria 4mths old
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What is your response?Maxamillion Dressed as #joker
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What is your response?My 2 sons. Charlie, age 4, as Pennywise and Kian, age 7, as Lego man.
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What is your response?My nephew as penny wise and his cockapoo as georgie
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What is your response?Aaron 7 years old dressed as zombie Michael Jackson
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What is your response?Taylor (12) The Nun Piper (2) Pennywise Kaelan (6) Slenderman
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What is your response?My 5 year old grandaughter ariannah and her baby sister juliet xx
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What is your response?Chloe Mckiggan age 11 dressed as a scary clown by her auntie Jenni.
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What is your response?Indie 2 as georgie and loui 4 month as pennywise🎈🤡
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What is your response?Jayden 10 dressed aff billy puppet jisgaw
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What is your response?My werewolf
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What is your response?Arran, 11 William Wallace
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What is your response?Robbie as Mr Bean
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What is your response?Isaac age 2 as penny-wise
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What is your response?A Unicorn & Skull trooper
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What is your response?Moana
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What is your response?Dariyan and Aaliyah Donachie.
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What is your response?My little boy Joshua as Pennywise last night
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What is your response?My 4 year old Ellis dressed as an old man
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What is your response?Dressed as a Wolfe ðŸº
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What is your response?Fright queen Morgan
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What is your response?Zander - fortnite Alyssa - LOL doll Jayden - Mime
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What is your response?Strathclydes finest
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What is your response?Kai age 4 Ompa lompa
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What is your response?CJ & Tommy as Jack and Victor from still game
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What is your response?Darcy’s Halloween 🎃
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What is your response?Matthew and Olivia as Mickey and Minnie's shadow.
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What is your response?Eva Duffy age 8 dressed as a headless bride
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What is your response?Eva as a zombie surgeon. Rocco, Jack & Oscar as skeleton.
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What is your response?Zach Ferguson as Kim Kardashian. Zach has Prader-Willi Syndrome and love to make people laugh
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What is your response?Kaci smeato as Annabelle
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Creepy Halloween costumes in Glasgow
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