Salem’s Lot (2024) Review

Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot gets its third adaptation, with Gary Dauberman directing his second film and James Wan acting as a producer.

Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) is a writer who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. He plans to use his time to research and write his next novel. However, his time back coincides with the disappearance of a young boy and the arrival of a mysterious European man who moves into a notorious house in the town.

Stephen King has written a wide range of novels, from a novella about a teenage girl with telekinetic powers (Carrie) to a post-apocalyptic epic (The Stand) to a short story about a small town only populated with children (Children of the Corn). His work varies in quality; even recent adaptations can be good, like It, Doctor Sleep, and The Boogeyman to poor quality offerings such as Firestarter, Children of the Corn, and The Dark Tower. Dauberman has experience working with King’s material because he has a co-writing credit for It and the sole screenwriting credit for It Chapter Two.

The plot of Salem’s Lot can be described as Nosferatu in America. The central threat was about a European vampire who brought a mansion and earth from his homeland so he could transition, and the main vampire looked like Count Orlok from the silent movie classic. Salem’s Lot used many tropes from vampire fiction, like crosses and holy water that repel vampires, the creatures of the night being unable to enter churches, and vampires needing to be invited into a home. It was taking European folklore and placing it in the new world. I enjoyed the opening credits that indicated how vampires came from Europe to America. Salem’s Lot attempted to add some scientific explanations regarding vampirism amidst all the folklore.

The use of all these vampire tropes makes Salem’s Lot feel overly familiar and cliché. It was easy to think of films like Let the Right One, The Lost Boys, and the already mentioned Nosferatu. Some of these issues weren’t the fault of the source material since it was published in 1975, but it was hard to disassociate these wider cultural references. Audiences who are familiar with King’s tropes could play a drinking game since it was set in Maine, the main character was a writer, and there was a psychotic bully.

Salem’s Lot does show that America is a country that can be easy to disappear. It’s a large country with areas that are sparsely populated, and Maine is a sparsely populated state. Combined with the ‘70s setting it was easy for the remote town to be taken over by vampires and disappear. It’s an idea that has been explored in King’s later works.

When speaking with Den of Geek, Dauberman said his original cut was three hours long, but the film was cut to two hours. This hour-long cut was felt since the story was so broad, and it needed more time. Numerous plotlines were going on like Ben’s relationship with Susan (Makenzie Leigh), Mark (Jordan Preston Carter) recently moving to the town and promising to help a boy who was turned into a vampire, and the town being slowly taken over by vampires. Pilou Asbæk suffered from these cuts since he’s a recognisable actor that ended up being relegated to a minor character. Some parts of the film didn’t translate well to the film like the vampire takeover since it was told through dialogue.

Salem’s Lot had an atmosphere, making the film effectively chilly. There was great use of darkness and shadows and there were fantastic shots like when the Glick boys were walking through the woods. There were impressive scenes like when the vampire was given his first victim with a feeling familiar to one in Doctor Sleep. There were effective sequences throughout the film, especially due to the increasing number of vampires in the town. An interesting modernisation involved showing where vampires hid during the day. Salem’s Lot was a film that made child death shocking and impactful, more so than another recent horror release, Terrifier 3 which just used extreme violence.

Salem’s Lot was a solid adaptation of King’s works. It was a film that was filled with atmosphere and chills which made up for some of the story holes.