Netflix’s new horror series Devil in Ohio tells a frightening tale.
The eight-part thriller revolves around hospital psychiatrist Dr Suzanne Mathis (Emily Deschanel), who takes in and shelters a young woman who arrives at the hospital with a wound on her back.
However, once Suzanne takes Mae (Madeleine Arthur) into her own home, she begins to reveal that she has escaped some sort of satanic cult. Sure enough, shortly after Mae’s arrival, a series of supernatural events begin to occur, leaving the Mathis family battling a devil-worshipping cult.
Devil in Ohio features many aspects that mirror the ongoings of real-world cults, but is the series actually based on a true story? Read on for everything you need to know.
Is Devil in Ohio based on a true story?
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Yes, Devil in Ohio is indeed inspired by a true story. The eight-episode series is based on the novel of the same name by Daria Polatin.
Polatin, who also serves as a showrunner on the series, recently explained that, although inspired by real-life events and people, her novel was also influenced by creative license.
“When my producer Rachel Miller heard this true story, which took place in Ohio, she told it to me,” she told the Columbus Dispatch, adding: “I knew I had to tell it. I decided to start with a book.”
Polatin did not go into detail about the people involved in the true story, but went on to explain: “The bones of the story are true and happened, and I wanted to take that as a jumping-off point.
“It’s inspired by true events, but it’s not a documentary. That’s just a different kind of storytelling.”
She added: “For this, I felt that the best outlet would be to free it up creatively and fictionalise the details and let it take on a life of its own.”
In order to make the show as authentic as possible, the creative team went to great depths to create the fictional cult, the Morningstar, even writing their own cult Bible — the Book of Covenants.
“Me and my writers’ room studied all of the cults,” Polatin told Tudum.
“We tried to learn as much as we could about as many organizations, then we made up our own cult using elements of many different groups. We came up with our whole ideology — and we even wrote some of the Book of Covenants, the cult Bible [in the show].”
Devil in Ohio is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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