Copyright birminghammail
A Birmingham dad who spent a small fortune on transforming his home into a haunted house for the community has admitted his kids think he's totally bonkers. Dad-of-four Darren Mackenzie spent £3,500 on huge Halloween decorations which have been on display in his driveway in Hob Moor Road, Yardley , since early October. The spooktacular display is complete with animatronics and inflatables including "around a dozen clowns" - despite one of Darren's daughters having a serious phobia of them. READ MORE: Birmingham dad goes all out with 'mental' £3,500 Halloween display in driveway "She works next door in our shop," said Darren who owns florist Yewtree Plants & Flowers, formerly called Ripe-n-Ready. "She doesn't like clowns at all. We very rarely get her around here unless she closes her eyes. "I'd wanted a 25-foot Pennywise but she would've been able to see it from the shop window so I decided against it." Darren said his daughter can "just about stomach" the smaller clowns among the epic display on his driveway - which, remarkably, only costs 80p a day to run. The 55-year-old said he had decided to "give Halloween a go" for the first time after his Christmas display proved to be a huge hit last year. He said: "Last year, we did Christmas for the first time and it was a success so we just thought, let's have a go at Halloween. I asked my girlfriend, if she fancied having a go, and she said, 'up to you', so yeah, I went for it." When asked what his other children thought of it, Darren said: "They're embarrassed. The youngest, twins, are 25 so they're all at that age anyway. All the kids think I'm mental. "They think I'm crazy. If they're here, they stay upstairs. They won't come out when there's people around." Darren said his girlfriend also no longer sleeps over because she's afraid of the animatronics which are brought inside overnight for safekeeping. "It's a nightmare waking up to it because they're all over the house," he added. Darren said he's proud of his display, which is aimed at families, but that even police officers had stopped to take pictures with it. "It's for the community," he said. "I think I spent about £3,500 on it, in total. I thought it would cost a fortune to run but it's only costing 80p a day. They're all LED." He added: "I love all of it. I just love the whole lot. I'm just a fun guy. All the clowns, all the popcorn, all the machines that are going on, just love it all. "The kids [passing by] love it - and the adults. Bit scary for the kids, they prefer the Christmas one a lot of them, but they all love it...puts a smile on everybody's face and cheers everybody up." The animatronics will be turned on for Halloween this Friday from 5pm until around 9pm. The inflatables will be on display in Darren's driveway for families to see all week.
