Screen Gems to Adapt “Road of Bones”: Derrickson, Cargill bring Horror Novel to Life”

by Annika March 29, 2025

Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill are set to adapt the horror novel “Road of Bones” by best-selling author Christopher Golden for Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems. The duo, known for the horror hits “Sinister,” “Doctor Strange,” and “The Black Phone,” will write the screenplay, produce under their Crooked Highway banner, and Derrickson will direct. This project is the first to emerge from Crooked Highway’s first-look deal with Screen Gems/Sony.

Screen Gems to Adapt “Road of Bones”: Derrickson, Cargill bring Horror Novel to Life”

– Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill are adapting Christopher Golden’s horror novel Road of Bones under Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems label.
– The novel, a mix of folk and survival horror, is set in Siberia along the Kolyma Highway where an American documentarian fights for his life in one of the coldest and most remote places on Earth.
– This project marks the first to come from Crooked Highway’s first-look deal with Screen Gems/Sony.

The renowned duo, Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, recognized for their horror masterpieces like Sinister, Doctor Strange, and The Black Phone, will bring their unique flair to a new adaptation: Road of Bones. This chilling tale by the best-selling author Christopher Golden will be developed for Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems label. Derrickson and Cargill will utilize their vast experience in the genre and contribute to the project as screenwriters, with Derrickson also assuming the role of director. Their collaborative work will come to life under the auspices of their Crooked Highway production banner.

This venture becomes the inaugural initiative from Crooked Highway to emerge from its first-look agreement with Screen Gems/Sony.

The backdrop of Bones is a potent blend of real and surreal, set against the grim history of Siberia’s Kolyma Highway. The road, constructed on the backbreaking labor of prisoners from regional gulags during Stalin’s regime, was reputedly built over the bodies of hundreds of thousands of dead inmates, buried in the permafrost.

Golden’s narrative carries elements of folk tales and survival horror, blending together to create a spine-chilling narrative. It follows an American researcher swept up in the road’s backstory, as he contends for survival in one of the planet’s harshest environments. The novel hit the shelves in 2022, published by the St. Martin’s Press.

Golden, Vince Cheng, and Pete Donaldson are slated to contribute as executive producers on the project. Golden boasts a prolific resume, featuring as a New York Times best-selling author, a Brad Storker Award recipient for his 2017 novel, Ararat, and for his non-fiction work, Cut! Horror Writers on Horror Film. He also collaborates with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and co-created numerous titles within the shared Outerverse comic book universe.

In their respective careers, Derrickson and Cargill marked February with the release of their Apple TV+ disappointment, The Gorge. Next in line for the talented duo is The Black Phone 2, set for an October 17 release via Universal and Blumhouse.