Padraig Reynolds tapped to adapt Gregg Olsen novel Starvation Heights

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

While searching these here interwebs today I stumbled upon a project that is oozing with intrigue. In our beloved genre we’ve seen people get murdered in a number of ways, too many to even try and list, but today I’ve got word for you guys on a project that dares to touch on something original in horror. Death by starvation.

That’s right folks, I’m talking about the novel STARVATION HEIGHTS, by New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen. Word over at Dread Central has this shite snatched up for a big-screen adaptation from Eric Thompson’s Vigilante Entertainment. RITES OF SPRING director Padraig Reynolds has already been tapped to helm this one. So what’s the rundown? Check it:

The setting is a forested wilderness in the Northwest, circa 1911. The villain is a tall, egotistical woman doctor with an imposing jawline and a fierce will to dominate others. The victims are two wealthy English sisters, gullible health faddists after the fashion of those who flocked to Dr. Kellogg’s sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. But unlike Dr. Kellogg’s comparatively gentle method of diet plus enemas, Dr. Hazzard’s method was to literally starve her patients to death–and then defraud them of their valuables. Acclaimed true-crime writer Jack Olsen calls this book “a literary and journalistic achievement of the highest order” and says, “Gregg Olsen reinforces his standing as one of America’s greatest crime reporters, evoking the early twentieth century with a master’s touch. No reader will ever forget Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard and her sadistic technique of mass murder by starvation.”

Pretty twisted stuff right? And it’s based on a true story!

Now there’s no word on when things will actually get rolling with STARVATION HEIGHTS but you can bet we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open for more on the project in the coming weeks. As soon as we hear anything new you can bet we’ll pass the good word along to all of you.