Arriving in UK cinemas on Friday 11th October, and currently available to stream on MAX in the US, is the supernatural horror movie, Salem’s Lot. Written and directed by Gary Dauberman and based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, the movie stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, and Bill Camp, and follows the story of an author who crosses paths with vampires.
In the film, Ben Mears is an author looking for inspiration. Figuring this inspiration could come from within, he returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot to research his youth.
Once back in town, Ben seeks out a property to rent. During his search he notices the long abandoned Marsten House has finally been sold.
While Ben is busying himself and settling in, some strange things are happening in town, with children disappearing and people turning up with bite marks on their neck. Could this be connected to the Marsten House, as well as its new owner who isn’t a fan of crosses or sunlight?
Shot in 2021, with additional filming in 2022, Salem’s Lot is a vampire movie that for a while no one knew if it was ever going to materialise. At one point it had a release date of September 2022, this was then shifted to April 2023, before it was finally moved to October 2024.
At this point it was confirmed the film would go to streaming in the US, but would get a theatrical release overseas. So, depending on where you live you could watch the film on your TV set or you could watch it on the big screen.
Why all the messing about? Well, that’s beyond my pay grade I’m afraid, and only the suits at Warner Bros./New Line Cinema really know for sure.
Either way, all this faffing about for two-to-three years with shooting, re-shooting, scheduling, rescheduling, and releasing is never a good sign, is it? Well, no it is not, and it’s fair to say you’ve probably already guessed that Salem’s Lot isn’t a great movie.
Salem’s Lot isn’t awful, but it’s not particularly inspiring either, and for the most part it is rather dull. Sure, it’s watchable, but it is also very forgettable and I imagine this is ultimately why the studio let it gather dust for a while.
Now, this isn’t the first time Salem’s Lot has been adapted for the screen, there have been two previous mini-series adaptations which were released in 1979 and 2004 respectively. The first had David Soul, the second had Rob Lowe, and if you’ve seen either of them then I don’t feel you really need to see this latest iteration.
To be fair, this new version does at least have Alfre Woodard amongst the cast, which is always a good thing, but even she can’t inject any excitement into proceedings. She also can’t help the film maintain a consistent tone, or feel like anything other than a patchwork or pastiche of other vampire films.
And patchwork is perhaps the best way to describe this movie, because at times it feels as if Salem’s Lot is constructed from parts of two different movies. There is a slow moody horror in here, mixed with occasional bits of a camp vamp film, and all of it looks cheap.
Nothing gels well, nor is particularly satisfying. And ultimately, ‘nor is particularly satisfying’ is probably the best way to sum-up Salem’s Lot.
Unless you’re a huge Stephen King super-fan, or you simply can’t resist a King adaptation, there’s not much on offer here that has not been done countless times before. Forgive the pun, but despite the vamps, this is largely a toothless horror which lacks bite.
Holding onto this film for a couple of years without releasing it has done Salem’s Lot no favours. That said, it couldn’t really do it more harm than it has already done to itself.
Salem’s Lot arrives in the run-up to Halloween and I expect this will attract some interest. However, come November 1st, when the pumpkins have dried out and everyone is turning their attention to Bonfire Night / Thanksgiving / Christmas, I doubt anyone will really care.
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