--Richard Straker (James Mason) from ‘Salem’s Lot 1979
‘Salem’s Lot is one of my favorite novels by Stephen King. ‘Salem’s Lot is the locals’ name for their town, known officially as Jerusalem’s Lot, in Maine. King’s book describes the insidious and terrifying invasion of ’Salem’s Lot by vampires, led by Richard Straker and Kurt Barlow, two outsiders who have come to the town to disingenuously open an antiques store. They also bought the Martsen House, a creepy old abandoned mansion that sits overlooking the town, to serve as their home.
Writer Ben Mears, who suffered a traumatic event in the Marsten House as a boy, returns to ’Salem’s Lot for research for his latest novel, only to find himself--along with several others--battling for the very souls of its townspeople. With this masterful book, only his second after Carrie, Stephen King updated the vampire myth to the then-modern day. Instead of lurking in European castles, the Dracula-like Barlow, an ancient and powerful vampire, lays the foundation for his evil in a small, out of the way, backwoods town in Maine.
'Salem's Lot (1979)
It didn’t take long for the first adaptation to arrive. ’Salem’s Lot premiered as a miniseries on television back in 1979, with David Soul as Ben Mears, James Mason as Straker, Bonnie Bedelia as Susan Norton and Reggie Nalder as Barlow. Directed by legendary horror movie helmer Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Barlow was changed from the cultured, human-looking villain that he was in the book into a demonic, feral creature of the night.
Horror movie fans would better recognize the ‘79 Barlow as looking very closely like the vampire in the seminal 1922 film Nosferatu, and this change works very well. This Barlow doesn’t even speak; instead he’s a more savage, monstrous creature that serves as the muscle to James Mason’s suave, debonair Straker. In the ‘79 version, Straker takes more of a commanding role--which made sense, because he was being played by an actor the caliber of James Mason.
Mason and Nader were really the perfect casting of these characters, and they, along with the ’79 version of ’Salem’s Lot, remain my all-time favorite version of this story. Despite it being a TV miniseries, Hooper still manages to invoke some truly scary moments here and there, like the terrifying scene with the floating vampire boy scratching at the window, along with an unnerving performance by Geoffrey Lewis as a vampire. And with the miniseries’ long running time, we are given ample time to meet the all of the characters, while the overall story is allowed to properly breathe.
'Salem's Lot (2004)
In 2004, ’Salem’s Lot was remade into another TV miniseries, one that fell short of the original’s faithfulness to the source novel. While some things from the book were added back into the story--like the rotary saw table scene--major changes were made to the story in order to make this version more “edgy.” But the 2004 version just fell flat for me. Straker is played by the late, great Donald Sutherland as something of a goofball. And the equally great Rutger Hauer played Barlow, who’s human-looking (quite normally so) and speaks this time out.
But while both men were great actors in other roles, their performances just don’t work, here. Sutherland happily chews the scenery, and it's fun to watch, but his Straker lacks the sheer menace of James Mason’s. And Rutger Hauer plays Barlow so low key that he almost seems bored most of the time. The scene showing his Barlow crawling around on a kitchen ceiling looks more funny than scary. It seems like a goofy moment from an absurd sitcom where a dude somehow found himself upside-down on the ceiling. Add in Rob Lowe's equally dazed performance as Ben Mears, and the '04 version winds up being very forgettable for me.
'Salem's Lot (2024)
And then we have the motion picture.
And I’m glad we do have it, because we almost didn’t get the 2022 version (now known as the '24 version) of ’Salem’s Lot,’ which is written and directed by Gary Dauberman. ’Salem’s Lot is Dauberman’s second feature as director, after the vastly entertaining Annabelle Comes Home. For various reasons, the 2024 version kept getting its theatrical release pushed back--until it finally debuted on MAX, on October 3, 2024, just in time for the Halloween season.
Although it runs at 114 minutes, just six minutes shy of two hours, compared to the previous two miniseries, the new Salem’s Lot feels very lean. But it’s also extremely well written and superbly-directed by Dauberman, who still captures the essence of King’s book while still making some brilliant changes in the story. Dauberman has his 'Salem's Lot take place in 1975, the year that the book was published--which works very well as a setting. Not only does he recpature the spirit of that era, but Dauberman is able to make thrilling use of a drive-in in the film's climax.
The second change is that Susan Norton, the local girl who falls for Ben Mears, is given much more to do in the film--to the point where she even becomes a fellow vampire hunter. She’s endearingly played by McKenzie Leigh, while Ben Mears is played by Lewis Pullman. Despite the ‘79 ‘Salem’s Lot still being my favorite, Leigh and Pullman from the ‘24 version are my favorite versions of the Susan and Ben characters. Straker and Barlow are played by Pilou Asbæk and Alexander Ward, respectively. Both of them are very good, and I really like how the film restores Barlow to his former Nosferatu visage from the ‘79 version, with Barlow being the master vampire who speaks this time.
The vampire scenes are outstanding this time out, making perfect use of practical effects and a stylish, theatrical method of filming the vampires in action. Dauberman infuses the new ‘Salem’s Lot vampires--even the ones spawn from regular people--with a shadowy, and more dynamic menace that really suits them. This ‘Salem’s Lot tries to make vampires scary again, and it succeeds with its gloomy, brooding aesthetic, which only grows in strength as the vampires take over the town. I’m really glad the ’24 movie got released. The original '79 adaptation movie is still my favorite of the bunch, but the '24 movie is a very close second.
It's good to see Stephen King’s masterpiece getting remade like this--the book is even getting a new edition published. Almost 50 years later, 'Salem's Lot remains a haunting, classic story that stands the test of time. The first two 'Salem's Lot versions are available on streaming and physical media, while the '24 movie version is only on MAX right now (but will hopefully be on PM soon). --SF
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