Salem's Lot
Stephen King adaptation could prove to be good gateway horror as it's tame but not lame.
Film Yap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Full Disclosure: I’ve never read Stephen King’s 1975 novel “Salem’s Lot” nor have I watched either one of the TV miniseries directed by Tobe Hooper (1979) and Mikael Salomon (2004) or Larry Cohen’s 1987 sequel – which is sort of surprising as I’m a fan of both King and vampires – but I suppose this makes me fresh meat for the grinder that is writer/director Gary Dauberman’s “Salem’s Lot” (now streaming on Max).
Dauberman opted to set his film in the same year King’s novel was published. Author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine to do research for an upcoming book. It’s in Salem’s Lot that Ben meets Susan Norton (Mackenzie Leigh), a real estate agent’s secretary he takes a shine to – and she to him.
Things take a turn for the worse in Salem’s Lot when antiques dealers Richard Strake (an underused Pilou Asbæk) and Kurt Barlow (Alexander Ward) move into the long-vacant and rumored haunted Marsten House. Barlow is a Nosferatu-esque vampire and Strake is his familiar, which means it’s his responsibility to scare up his master’s meals.
As children – namely brothers Danny (Nicholas Crovetti) and Ralph Glick (Cade Woodward) – turn up sick and/or missing, monster-obsessed new kid Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter) takes it upon himself to take on Strake and Barlow. Aiding Mark in his hunt are Ben, Susan, kindly schoolteacher Matthew Burke (Bill Camp, always a welcome presence and sporting a sweet Red Sox jacket), local medical practitioner Dr. Cody (Alfre Woodard) and alcoholic priest Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey). Law enforcement in the form of Officer Parkins Gillespie (aces character actor William Sadler) is of zero assistance to these ragtag vampire hunters and embraces more of a flight than fight attitude.
I enjoyed screenwriter-turned-director Dauberman’s debut “Annabelle Comes Home” (it’s probably my second favorite “Conjuring” movie after the original) and I like his sophomore offering as well. Both movies take place in the 1970s and Dauberman and his fellow creatives capture the era with aplomb. There’s an earnestness and cheesiness to the proceedings that will likely turn off some modern audiences, but I ultimately found these attributes to be endearing. (There are also a couple of awesome needle drops including Donovan’s arguably overused “Hurdy Gurdy Man” and Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” (a song so nice they use it twice).)
Characters are arguably underdeveloped, but when you’ve got actors as good as Pullman, Camp, Woodard and Sadler on hand it certainly helps matters. I was also impressed by Carter who makes Mark an entirely likable and sympathetic hero.
I really don’t understand why “Salem’s Lot” was so oft-delayed (it sports a copyright of 2022 during the closing credits). It’s perfectly serviceable and could serve as a great gateway horror film for younger audiences despite being R-rated because it’s tame but not lame.