A new haunted experience is coming to Kansas City from the mind of ‘Saw’ director
Overland Park native and horror movie director Darren Lynn Bousman said his dad would’ve hated his next project — specifically, how much it would’ve scared him.
Bousman and his dad had a yearly tradition where the two would head to the West Bottoms every Halloween and wait in line to visit each haunted house. With only three remaining in the neighborhood — The Beast, The Edge of Hell and The Macabre — Bousman used to joke that he would open his own.
Bousman, known for his work directing four movies in the “Saw” franchise, is making that joke a reality. He’s teaming up with Bonner Springs haunted house “Exiled: Trail of Terror” to showcase his Hollywood tricks and bring a new bone-chilling outdoor experience to the Kansas City area in the fall.
Titled “Exiled: Crooked Rose Woods,” the new attraction 25 miles west of Kansas City will take visitors on a thrilling and immersive story through more than 100 acres. Bousman couldn’t share any specific details of what lies ahead, but he said people can start the experience now by signing up on Exiled’s website, exiledkc.com.
“Exiled: Crooked Rose Woods” opens in September at 12829 Loring Road, Bonner Springs.
Bousman’s dad died last year, and as much as he would’ve hated how much his kid would’ve scared him, Bousman said that he would’ve loved his son bringing some scare back to Kansas City.
What can you see at ‘Exiled’?
While he couldn’t discuss the exact jump scares and characters that visitors might see, Bousman said he drew elements from personal fears and past work.
He ran an immersive live-horror show called “The Tension Experience” in Los Angeles with fellow Kansas City native Clint Sears eight years ago. “The Tension Experience” was a paranoia-based immersive production that required participants to make a series of decisions that would determine the outcome. The end of the nine-month production culminated in a two-hour live experience that blurred the lines between reality and fiction.
If you sign up on the website, you might start to receive calls, emails and texts from actors associated with the experience, and it’s all a part of Bousman’s vision. He learned from “Tension” participants, like “How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris, that getting inside the visitor’s head made the show successful.
He said a werewolf wouldn’t scare him since he’s never seen one in person, but getting a random call from an unknown number would make him feel uneasy.
“When it crosses into your everyday life through phone calls, through emails, through events at parks and bars, it becomes infinitely more frightening,” he said.
There are three levels for visitors to experience: one for people who are just visiting, one for people who want a little bit more of a scare, and one for the people who signed up and know the whole story. The name “Crooked Rose Woods” also ties into the story they are telling.
Bousman had the idea to collaborate with Dan Scott, Kansas City-based managing partner of Exiled, after taking his family to the company’s “Trail of Terror” in 2023. He traveled back and forth from Los Angeles to Kansas City to work Scott and his team to get the plans together.
Bousman’s Kansas City roots
Bousman, who attended Shawnee Mission North High School and the University of Kansas, previously told The Star that his older brother, Lance, introduced him to horror movies when he was “very young, way too young. I think he screwed me up as a kid. Ever since then it’s been game over for me.”
In past interviews with The Star, Bousman said that he has a hard time dealing with family drama or family turmoil since he became a father. Any time he sees families or kids in trouble, he has to look away.
“What scares me as a person now is much different than what scared me as a 20-year-old,” he said. “Any time I see families in trouble, in danger, or kids in danger, I can’t handle it. I can’t watch it.”
These days, his career is split 50/50 in working on movies and live entertainment, but the rest of the year is going to be focused on “Exiled.”
“I am so excited to be able to return to my hometown and do this thing. It just feels like a complete circle to me,” he said. “From growing up there to the time I spent with my dad in the haunted houses to now, after leaving Kansas City 20-plus years ago and being able to return and now have my hand in creating one of my own.”
