Kansas City native and “Saw” horror movie director’s newest project is an immersive haunt “Exiled: Crooked Rose Woods,” located in Bonner Springs, Kansas.
Darren Lynn Bousman directed four of the Saw movies: Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV and Spiral. He has more recently been involved in the immersive theater world, as he spent this last year creating this experience.
“For me, movies are passive. You go to a movie and sit in the theater, and it’s always the same. No matter how many times you see ‘Saw’, John Kramer is always going to do the same things,” said Bousman. “It never changes, but with immersive theater, it changes every single time you interact with it.”
The haunt begins with “The Redcurve Carnival,” where the scare actors come out and interact with the guests filtering into the woods.
The carnival features the backwoods family, known as the Redcurves. They host gruesome carnival games, a redneck dance and a pig squeal contest.
Guests are encouraged to interact with the actors as they all have backstories, and some even have quests.
“How you interact tonight will dictate what happens to you, and it can be very PG and normal, or it can be as extreme as you want it to go. We give the audience the ability to be active,” said Bousman.
After the carnival, guests can take on the mile-long trail in the woods. It is almost completely pitch black and filled with scare actors around almost every corner.
“This is everything I’ve wanted to do. Personally, in my heart, I believe this is the greatest immersive experience that has ever been put on anywhere in the world,” said Producer Morgan J. Rooms. “The trail behind you, it’s literally a mile in the woods. You can’t build that set anywhere in the world.”
There are two levels of what you can experience at this haunt. There is a green level, which is recommended for children and other people who don’t necessarily want actors to interact with them as much. The other level is yellow, where you have light physical contact, smears and splashes of simulated blood on skin and clothing.
Exiled runs through Nov. 2. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.
