The Gloomy Mobile phone author and director are prepping for Siberian-location awe Road of Bones

Doctor Strange and The Black Phone director Scott Derrickson is collaborating with screenwriter C. Robert Cargill on another spine-tingling (heavy on the ‘tingling’) horror project, Road of Bones. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be based on the 2022 novel of the same title, which explores a real-life dilemma in Siberia rich in folklore and horror.

The original book penned by Christopher Golden follows a historian who travels to Siberia along the Kolyma Highway, a road with a dark history surrounding its construction. Prisoners built the 2000 km road during the Stalinist Soviet era, but due to permafrost, many inmates perished during the process, leading to a road literally constructed over their remains to conceal the truth. The unfortunate historian who dares to traverse this road encounters unimaginable terrors and risks becoming eternally trapped on it, forgotten like all the others.

It seems like a perfect match for the duo, who have been instilling fear in audiences for quite some time. While Apple TV Plus’ The Gorge didn’t quite raise heart rates, their Ethan Hawke-led horror film The Black Phone certainly achieved that, so much so that a sequel has been approved and is set to debut this year on October 17.

Discussing the movie, Derrickson shared with GamesRadar+, “The primary distinction is that it’s a high school coming-of-age film, whereas the original was a middle school coming-of-age story, but those are two quite different types of narratives.” Derrickson elaborated on the differences, adding, “You