Is the haunted hotel movie So Cold the River based on the book?

“He made his name in blood. No one could touch him. Certain stories, they just refuse to die.” That’s one of the lines in the trailer for So Cold the River, a new horror movie releasing on Mar. 25, 2022.

Specifically, it’s how Anne McKinney (Deanna Dunagan) describes a man named Campbell Bradford to documentary filmmaker Erica Shaw (Bethany Joy Lenz). Shaw has traveled to a luxury resort to profile Bradford, an ailing millionaire.

What secrets is Campbell hiding? What’s the Campbell Curse? Whose blood has been spilled?

Good job, So Cold the River trailer. I have a bunch of questions.

Including, how closely does the movie follow the book of the same name by Michael Koryta that it’s based on?

We won’t know for sure until the movie is released, but there are a few clues in the storylines. See if you spot them.

So Cold the River Book Storyline

Here’s the synopsis for the book from Amazon:

It started with a beautiful woman and a challenge. As a gift for her husband, Alyssa Bradford approaches Eric Shaw to make a documentary about her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, a 95-year-old billionaire whose past is wrapped in mystery. Eric grabs the job even though there are few clues to the man’s past — just the name of his hometown and an antique water bottle he’s kept his entire life.

In Bradford’s hometown, Eric discovers an extraordinary history — a glorious domed hotel where movie stars, presidents, athletes, and mobsters once mingled, and hot springs whose miraculous mineral water cured everything from insomnia to malaria. Neglected for years, the resort has been restored to its former grandeur just in time for Eric’s stay.

Just hours after his arrival, Eric experiences a frighteningly vivid vision. As the days pass, the frequency and intensity of his hallucinations increase and draw Eric deeper into the town’s dark history. He discovers that something besides the hotel has been restored — a long-forgotten evil that will stop at nothing to regain its lost glory. Brilliantly imagined and terrifyingly real, So Cold the River is a tale of irresistible suspense with a racing, unstoppable current.

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So Cold the River Movie Storyline

Here’s the storyline from IMDB:

A documentary filmmaker’s research on a town’s mysterious benefactor unearths an unexplained evil while staying at a local resort.

Because it’s so brief you get the idea that the movie has a similar storyline to the book, except the main character doesn’t appear to be the same. Eric Shaw has become Erica Shaw for the movie.

But the rest of the storyline seems close.

So Cold the River Cast

In addition to Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill, Colony, Pearson) and Deanna Dunagan (The Exorcist, Tell Me Your Secrets, Stillwater), So Cold the River also stars Alysia Reiner (The Deuce, Better Things, Shining Vale), Andrew J. West (The Walking Dead, Dead of Summer, Once Upon a Time), Katie Sarife (Youth & Consequences), and Kevin Cahoon (A Series of Unfortunate Events, GLOW).

So Cold the River Trailer

A haunted hotel movie we’ve been waiting for?

I don’t know. Guess we’ll find out soon. According to Screen Rant, So Cold the River will hit theaters first on March 25, and then digital and VOD on March 29.

Check-In

Have you read the book So Cold the River?