Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are teaming up once more for an adaptation of The Devil in the White City, which is perfect for Scorsese to go back to a genre he hasn’t visited again in 34 years. Leonardo DiCaprio has done a bit of everything in over 30 years of his career and has collaborated with different, well-known directors. However, one of his most famous and praised team-ups has been with Martin Scorsese, beginning with the epic historical drama Gangs of New York. At the time of writing, Scorsese and DiCaprio have collaborated on seven movies.

Movies like The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Killers of the Flower Moon brought a lot of praise for DiCaprio, and he has become one of Scorsese’s most frequent collaborators. Now, shortly after the success of Killers of the Flower Moon, Scorsese and DiCaprio are teaming up once more on a project that has been trapped in development hell for years: an adaptation of Erik Larson’s 2003 historical non-fiction book The Devil in the White City, through which Scorsese can finally go back to a genre he left more than three decades ago.

Martin Scorsese Hasn’t Made A Horror Movie Since 1991’s Cape Fear

Cape Fear Was Released In 1991

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America takes readers back to 1893 Chicago, during the World’s Columbian Exposition, to tell the story of World’s Fair architect Daniel Burnham and H. H. Holmes. Burnham came across various challenges with the World’s Fair, while Holmes was a con artist and a serial killer, widely considered the first serial killer in the US. The Devil in the White City intertwined their stories, while one struggled with his project and the other lured his victims to his infamous “Murder Castle.”

In 2010, DiCaprio purchased the film rights to The Devil in the White City, and the plan was for Scorsese to direct. However, after years in development hell, the project was changed to a TV series in 2019, set to be released on Hulu (via Variety). DiCaprio and Scorsese were on board as executive producers, but in 2023, it was reported that the project wasn’t going to move forward anymore (via Variety). Now that the future of The Devil in the White City looks brighter, it’s the perfect material for a horror movie, and Scorsese hasn’t made one since Cape Fear.

Based on the 1957 novel The Executioners, by John D. MacDonald, and a remake of the 1962 movie of the same name, Cape Fear stars Robert De Niro as Max Cady and Nick Nolte as Sam Bowden. Cape Fear follows Cady, a violent rapist who, after being released from prison, wants vengeance against Bowden, who he blames for his imprisonment due to purposefully faulty defense tactics. Cape Fear is Scorsese’s only horror movie to date, but The Devil in the White City, thanks to H. H. Holmes, can bring Scorsese back to the genre.

Why The Devil in the White City Would Be A Perfect Scorsese Horror Movie

The Devil in the White City Can Bring Horror & Drama Together

The Devil in the White City will surely have a heavy dramatic charge, but it has all the elements to be a perfect Scorsese movie. Cape Fear proved Scorsese can do horror without jumpscares and large amounts of blood – instead, he focused more on psychological horror, with Max Cady being one of the scariest villains ever. The Devil in the White City can follow this same style and focus more on what makes Holmes terrifying – as in, what goes through his mind and what leads him to kill – rather than the murders themselves.

In addition to that, The Devil in the White City has the parallel story of Burnham, which can add more tension to the story as he struggles with the World’s Fair while Holmes continues to kill. Of course, a big part of what will make or break The Devil in the White City as a Scorsese horror movie is whoever gets to play Holmes, just like De Niro’s performance in Cape Fear was key to its success. The Devil in the White City can show another side of Martin Scorsese’s type of horror, with a good dose of drama and lots of tension.

Source: Variety.