45 years ago, Warner Bros. quickly dismissed the idea of developing a theatrical adaptation of Salem’s Lot for a clear reason: it would require a lot of footage to capture the immensity of Stephen King’s work. They decided to opt for a three-hour miniseries, the same length as its 2004 remake. Now, in an era of extravagance in TV series, the Burbank studio has opted for a movie of less than two hours.
Well, they bet. The truth is that for a while there was fear that this third adaptation of Salem’s Lot would suffer the same fate as Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme and end up shelved without seeing the light of day. Luckily, that was not the case, but Warner Bros. did not show much belief in the potential of the film, relegating it to an exclusive release on Max despite being a product that, in my opinion, would have been a blockbuster.
Salem’s Lot
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It Looks Like It… If It Had Been Massacred
And I’m not saying this because I think we are facing a great mystery, horror, and vampire feature film, in fact, it is not even the best of the three adaptations, but because Salem’s Lot has that aura of inexplicable commercial success seen in many other genre productions distributed by Warner Bros. After all, we are faced with a work directed by Gary Dauberman, known so far for being a writer in the Warren (and It) universe.
We are thus faced with a film made to make money and not to achieve a certain cult status like the original miniseries, one that the studios cut in every scene to then fit it into the most number of screenings in its release. It’s a practice we don’t like, but it can make sense in the revenue-seeking effort that every company, and a film company is no exception, has. The problem arises when you take its release to streaming.
It’s incomprehensible to see such a rushed editing like in Salem’s Lot knowing that on TV you don’t depend as much on being efficient in its footage. It’s not just that, obviously, a lot of material has been left out, but that what is shown on screen you can feel the editor’s rush to reduce a second or two for each shot. You notice it, and there are times when you blink and feel like you missed something. If only it had 20 more minutes…
A Very Superficial Adaptation of the Book
This direct approach to Stephen King’s work also prevents it from properly developing its protagonists, who are not few (and many of them are brilliantly portrayed with Bill Camp leading the way), and prevents its filmmaker from allowing us to contemplate some beautiful scenes that, along with the cinematographer and the rest of the production team, manage to show us. Because yes, I insist, not everything is bad about Dauberman. I sincerely believe that this film could have reached the quality of Andy Muschietti’s adaptations with It, and even surpass the original 1979 miniseries if it had more leeway.
Like It, Salem’s Lot relies on this sense of nostalgia for a form of cinema in danger of extinction, opting to set the story in the era in which it was written, and also making nods to vampire comics, werewolves, and other horror creatures that were read in those years. This may be the closest thing to an 80s B-movie in our era, and that’s why I think it has the potential to be a Max hit on Halloween.
In Salem’s Lot, we follow writer Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) as he returns to his childhood town in search of lost inspiration for his next book. He will soon see that something strange is happening when a child disappears and another appears “dead.” We are thus faced with a very well-set vampire movie, with a few popcorn scares, that I don’t think will bore you. If you’ve seen it, don’t hesitate to leave a message in the comments box.
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