Best of KC 2025: Ghosted by the Insidious live show
Courtesy American Theatre Guild
Earlier this month, we published The Pitch’s annual Best of Kansas City issue. You can take a peek at the results of the readers’ poll here. The issue also included a list, compiled and written by our editorial staff, of some local people, places, and things that we thought clearly won 2025. We’ll be publishing these items online throughout November.
Some of our favorite stories this year are the ones that, frankly, didn’t happen at all. Case in point: The Lionsgate horror film series Insidious had a “live show” that was set to hit KC. Insidious: The Further You Fear was billed as an “immersive theatrical event” that, from the video trailer released online, seemed like a mix of haunted house and scientific showmanship—promising to also bring the “real” Specs and Tucker, the actual paranormal investigators who inspired the original movie. This sort of unspecific summary merged with a performance set for The Kauffman Center (of all places! And with Kauffman Center prices!) gave us an itch at The Pitch for exactly the kind of bizarre adventure that we took this gig to cover.
Unfortunately, Insidious ghosted us. The night of the show, hours before the doors opened, a PR team reached out to let us know the event would not be happening, and even they seemed stunned and uncertain about what led to this. Turns out, the show had opened a few nights earlier, and audiences in Detroit and Omaha had left in fits of fury. Demands for refunds had come flooding in, we found out, after a half-baked evening of crowd work (with obviously planted actors) merged with an evening devoid of special effects, and ending suddenly and unexpectedly with no explanation.
In reading the bewildered, furious, or straight frenzied reactions from the other early audiences, who presumed they had perhaps been part of a Nathan for You-style prank or social experiment, we’re still sore over missing our chance to be the final stop of an apparently near-historic horrorshow—for all the wrong reasons.
To the producers of The Conjuring: the ball is in your court. We’ll be seated.
Click below to read the November Best Of 2025 Issue of The Pitch Magazine:
