Plot: Dean Corso, based in New York City, is a rare book consultant and broker, and like many in his business is unscrupulous in bilking unsuspecting people for his own monetary benefit. One of his standing clients, publisher and academic Boris Balkan, whose rare book collection focuses solely on the Devil, has just acquired what he considers the crowning glory of his collection from fellow collector, Andrew Telfer, the day before Telfer killed himself. It is a purported original of the seventeenth century "The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows" by Aristide Torchia. Legend has it that Torchia adapted the text from Lucifer himself, and that the text, in combination with the engravings Torchia included in the book of the nine gates, hold the key to conjuring up the Devil himself. Balkan's copy is one of only three known in existence, the other two, also in private hands, in Portugal and France. Balkan believes only one of the three is authentic, he giving Corso the lucrative assignment of traveling to Europe to determine which of the three is the authentic one, and if it isn't his to acquire that copy. This assignment does not sit well with Telfer's seductive widow, Liana Telfer, who argues that the book actually belonged to her and thus was not her husband's to sell, and who will use whatever weapons in her possession to get the book back. Beyond Liana, Corso will find that this assignment is a dangerous one as people associated with any of the three copies end up dead, their demises seemingly tied to the contents of the books themselves. Added to the mix is a young woman who seems to want to help him, and who seems to know as much if not more about the books and their current owners than him.
Alternative Plot: Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) specializes in tracking down rare and exotic volumes for collectors. Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) has recently acquired a seventeenth-century satanic text called The Nine Gates- a legendary book written by Satan himself. With The Nine Gates in his possession, Corso soon finds himself at the center of strange and violent goings-on. Not only is his apartment ransacked, it appears that he is being shadowed ferociously by others determined to regain the book.
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