Columbia Pictures knows Where the Devil Hides

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Doubleday's Jason Kaufman recently acquired the U.S. publishing rights to author Craig Russell's gothic horror novel WHERE THE DEVIL HIDES, and Russell must have come up with one hell of a story, because Sony division Columbia Pictures just pre-emptively picked up the film rights to the novel, which isn't even expected to be published until April 2019. Thirteen months from now.

Sony Pictures' VP of literary development Jake Bauman was the one who discovered the book for the company. WHERE THE DEVIL HIDES is set in Eastern Europe and 

follows a physician set to experiment on the six deadliest killers in history, who’ve been imprisoned for life within a remote mental asylum that has a dark history and bloody secrets all its own.

Well, the set-up certainly sounds like the makings of an interesting horror movie. The title brings to mind possession and exorcisms (which is why I've stuck an image from THE EXORCIST above), but I think it would be more interesting if such things aren't actually involved in this story.

David Beaubaire and Kira Thompson are set to oversee the film adaptation for Columbia. Sony and Doubleday / Kaufman previously teamed up to turn author Dan Brown's bestseller THE DA VINCI CODE into a hit film.