As the great poet Gordon Lightfoot told us: “Sometimes I think it’s a sin/
When I feel like I’m winning, when I’m losing again.” Unfortunately, for Salem’s Lot, that’s a pretty accurate description of Gary Dauberman’s film.
Finally released in 2024, the highly anticipated adaptation of Stephen King’s classic vampire novel had been long in the works. Salem’s Lot officially started filming in 2021, but was caught up in the Warner Bros. shakeup that destroyed the release of Batgirl. After some pressure from the King of Horror himself, Salem’s Lot finally got slated for release, though it was relegated to exclusively streaming on Max.
Perhaps this was an indicator of the troubled film coming out on October 3. Pushing a King adaptation of one of his most popular novels into streaming three years after filming isn’t exactly a vote of confidence. Despite a strong cast and a straightforward narrative, Warner Bros. may have been right to hesitate. While it is possible for a film to fail as a cinematic experience but excel as an adaptation, Salem’s Lot is regrettably lackluster in both arenas.
The film starts with little pomp and circumstance as a European businessman, Straker (Pilou Asbæk), opens up an antique store in Jerusalem’s Lot — also known as ‘Salem’s Lot. He hires a citizen to go pick up a very important crate, and we’re off to the races. There is no hiding that this is a vampire movie, especially since you see Barlow (Alexander Ward) within the first seven minutes of the film. The rest of the movie traverses familiar territory, as former resident Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returns to town to write a new book only to learn “The Lot” — as they insist on calling the town in every scene — is rotten to the core. The film presents the events of King’s book with strange changes to the source material, but with no clear perspective.
Just like Barlow, Dauberman’s version of Salem’s Lot is seductive at first. His biggest success is marrying the film to the time period that King’s book was written. Set in the ’70s, the film celebrates the groovy times, from set decoration, costumes, to music. Dropping Lightfoot’s famous song into the action from time to time does wonders to distract from its faults. But of the faults, there are a few.
Despite the exquisite vibes, Dauberman has a difficult time merging camp with the horrific aspects required to make the film genuinely scary. After introducing the idiosyncratic characters of The Lot, there is an aggressive change of tone. Gone are the needle drops, instead opting for the blood-soaked sacrifice of the cutest cherub-faced child you have ever seen. Salem’s Lot then segues heavily into the horror picture that we have all been waiting for, but it still doesn’t pass the necessary benchmarks.
What Salem’s Lot is truly missing is humanity. The film’s most significant relationship is a near footnote that is given no time to breathe. Ben returns home to fall for aspiring real estate agent Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), but there is no romantic tension between the two, or any real reason why they would want to be together in the first place, besides availability. Any foundation that the relationship could be built on seems to be missing from the final cut.
This is the great sin that affects the denizens of the Lot, human and otherwise. Entirely plot-based, the film doesn’t invest in any connections between the characters. The leads fall into situations with no rhyme or reason, and then deliver heavy exposition about why they landed there. There is no reason why Ben should become friends with the local teacher Matt Burke (the heavily underutilized Bill Camp), or any explanation as to why Burke comes so readily to believe in vampires. Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey) is barely in the film, making his climax… well, anticlimactic. It feels as though major scenes that would weave connective tissue between these characters are just gone. Though Salem’s Lot has great scares and beautiful cinematography, the reason anyone goes to the theater — or in this case, just streams it on Max — is the characters’ relationships.
We would be remiss not to think of the most recent success in vampire cinema, from a great King adapter: Mike Flanagan. Midnight Mass is one of the most heartwrenching and beautiful pieces of vampire fiction precisely because of the connections the characters have with each other. Midnight Mass may be the best Salem’s Lot adaptation we will ever get.
It is a shame. Fans have been waiting for the definitive adaptation of King’s second book, and this is just not it. With stilted dialogue and changes in pace that give the viewer whiplash, the 2024 adaptation did not live up to expectations. Horror is at its best when it uses the genre to tell a universal truth. King was unrepentant about his view of modern America; that small-town life is evil, even before the vampires get to town. This is mentioned briefly by King alum William Salder in his role of Officer Gillespie, but is otherwise largely ignored as the thesis of the film. Ultimately, this version will most likely be grouped in with Tobe Hooper’s television miniseries, a B-horror movie that shocks audiences from time to time with stunning visuals. Perhaps, for once, Warner Bros. was right to shelve this one for so long.
Salem’s Lot will be able to stream on Max starting October 3.
Salem’s Lot
The breathtaking visuals and bloody scares are not enough to bring this adaptation back from the dead.
