Everyone wants to see the "Murder Castle." It’s a macabre obsession that hasn’t faded in over a century. If you’ve spent any time reading about America’s first semi-documented serial killer, you’ve probably searched for the H.H. Holmes movie that was supposed to star Leonardo DiCaprio and be directed by Martin Scorsese. It sounds like a lock for an Oscar. It sounds like the perfect adaptation of Erik Larson’s 2003 masterpiece, The Devil in the White City.
But here’s the thing. It’s not out. It’s been "in development" longer than some of you have been alive.
The story of Herman Webster Mudgett—better known as Dr. H.H. Holmes—is inherently cinematic. You have the backdrop of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. You have a charismatic, blue-eyed swindler. You have a building designed with trap doors, gas chambers, and a basement furnace. It’s a horror-thriller written by history itself. Yet, the road to getting this specific H.H. Holmes movie onto a screen has been a nightmare of production delays, platform shifts, and creative exits.
Why the Devil in the White City is cursed
Honestly, the project has been a bit of a disaster. Leonardo DiCaprio bought the film rights to Larson's book back in 2010. That's sixteen years ago. At first, it was going to be a massive feature film. Then, around 2019, the plan shifted. It was going to be a high-budget limited series for Hulu.
Big names were attached. Keanu Reeves signed on to play Daniel Burnham, the architect of the World's Fair. Todd Field, the director of Tár, was set to helm the project. Then, everything fell apart in late 2022 and early 2023. Reeves walked. Field walked. Hulu eventually dropped the project entirely. It's currently being shopped around to other streamers, but as of right now, the definitive H.H. Holmes movie based on the most famous book about him is in a state of purgatory.
It’s frustrating.
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You’d think Hollywood would jump at this. But the scale of the 1893 World’s Fair is prohibitively expensive to recreate. We’re talking about a "White City" that covered over 600 acres. To do it right, you need a budget that rivals a Marvel movie, but for a R-rated psychological horror about a man who skinned his victims and sold their skeletons to medical schools. That’s a tough sell for executives who are currently playing it safe.
Separating the Murder Castle myth from reality
When we talk about an H.H. Holmes movie, we have to address the "Castle" itself. This is where the movie scripts often get complicated because the real history is messy. Most of the stuff you think you know about the Murder Castle might be exaggerated.
Journalists in the 1890s were basically the inventors of "clickbait." They claimed Holmes had a maze of 100 rooms. They said he had vats of acid and "stretching racks." While Holmes was undoubtedly a prolific murderer and a world-class con artist, some historians, like Adam Selzer, author of H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil, argue that the "castle" wasn't as elaborate as the legends suggest.
- Holmes was definitely a killer.
- He definitely killed the Pitezel children.
- He was definitely a bigamist and a fraud.
- But was the house a literal "funhouse of death" with secret levers? Maybe not.
Any filmmaker tackling this has a choice. Do they lean into the sensationalist 1890s yellow journalism, or do they tell the grittier, more realistic story of a bureaucratic con man who used the chaos of a booming city to hide his crimes? Scorsese and DiCaprio were reportedly leaning toward the latter, focusing on the contrast between Burnham’s architectural brilliance and Holmes’s moral decay.
The existing films you can actually watch
Since the big-budget version is stuck in limbo, you might be looking for alternatives. There haven't been many great ones.
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- H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer (2004). This is a documentary by John Borowski. It’s probably the most factual thing you’ll find, though it’s definitely "indie" in its production value.
- Havenhurst (2016). Not a biopic, but it’s heavily inspired by the Holmes mythos. It features a modern-day apartment building with hidden traps.
- The Devil in the White City (various fan films). There are dozens of short films on YouTube, but nothing that captures the gravitas of the source material.
- American Horror Story: Hotel. The character of James Patrick March, played by Evan Peters, is a direct, albeit stylized, riff on H.H. Holmes.
The complexity of casting a monster
Who could actually play Holmes today? DiCaprio was the pick for a decade, but he’s likely too old for the role now, considering Holmes was in his early 30s during his peak.
Holmes wasn't a hulking brute. He was small, well-spoken, and incredibly charming. He had those "great blue eyes" that people mentioned in every contemporary account. He was the kind of guy who could look you in the face, steal your life savings, marry your sister, and convince you it was your idea.
That requires an actor with incredible range. Someone who can play "kindly doctor" in one scene and "calculated predator" in the next without it feeling like a cartoon. Names like Bill Skarsgård or even Robert Pattinson have been floated in fan circles because they carry that specific brand of unsettling charisma.
What actually happened in 1893?
To understand why an H.H. Holmes movie is so sought after, you have to look at the atmosphere of Chicago at the time. The city was trying to prove it wasn't just a meatpacking town. They built a temporary neoclassical dreamscape out of plaster and wood.
While the world was looking at the Ferris Wheel (which debuted there), Holmes was operating a pharmacy across town. He bought the lot. He built the building. He hired and fired multiple contractors so that no one person knew the full layout of the place. He was a master of the "long con."
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The horror wasn't just the killing; it was the clinical, business-like way he went about it. He used the bodies to pay off his debts. He was a pioneer of the American hustle, just twisted into a nightmare.
Why the movie might never happen (as we imagined it)
The "Peak TV" era is changing. Huge, expensive period pieces are becoming harder to fund unless they have a massive built-in franchise. The Devil in the White City is a famous book, but it’s not Star Wars.
Also, there is a growing sensitivity toward how we portray serial killers. We’ve moved away from the "genius monster" trope seen in the 90s. Today's audiences—and critics—are more interested in the victims. A modern H.H. Holmes movie would have to navigate that carefully. You can’t just glorify the killer anymore; you have to show the lives he destroyed, which makes for a much heavier, less "fun" movie-going experience.
Actionable steps for the true crime buff
If you're tired of waiting for the Scorsese/DiCaprio project, don't just sit there. There are better ways to get your fix than refreshing IMDb.
- Read the source material differently. If you’ve read The Devil in the White City, pick up Adam Selzer’s H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil. It deconstructs the myths and tells you what actually happened based on court records.
- Virtual Tours. You can actually find 3D reconstructions of the 1893 World's Fair online. Seeing the scale of the "White City" helps you understand how someone like Holmes could disappear in the shadows of such a massive event.
- Visit the site. If you're ever in Chicago, the site of the Murder Castle is now a post office (633 W. 63rd St.). There isn't a museum there—Holmes's building burned down shortly after he was caught—but standing on that corner gives you a chilling sense of the geography.
- Track the rights. Keep an eye on "Appian Way Productions" (DiCaprio’s company). They still hold the rights. Any news about the H.H. Holmes movie will come through them or through trade publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
The story of H.H. Holmes is a dark mirror of the American Dream. It's about ambition, invention, and the anonymity of the big city. Whether it hits the big screen next year or ten years from now, the fascination isn't going anywhere. We are suckers for a well-dressed monster. Until the cameras finally roll, the best movie is the one playing in your head while you read the original accounts of the man who turned a pharmacy into a tomb.