Salem’s Lot (2024)
Directed by: Gary Dauberman
Premise: Adapted from the novel by Stephen King. A vampire and his handler (Pilou Asbæk) move into a house in a small New England town. As residents start disappearing, a local author (Lewis Pullman) investigates.
What Works: Salem’s Lot is classic gothic horror and that quality distinguishes this movie in the present cinema marketplace. It’s straightforward without trying to overcomplicate the nature of evil or dwell on matters of trauma as seen in a lot of contemporary horror films. It’s scary and Salem’s Lot includes a few well executed set pieces. The story is especially ruthless. No one is safe which raises the stakes. Salem’s Lot was previously adapted twice for television, first in 1979 and again in 2004, and each version ran about three hours. This version cuts the story down to two hours and that immediacy gives it a sleek efficiency. The 2024 version of Salem’s Lot is polished filmmaking and it has interesting use of color. There are some striking images as seen in a sequence of two boys walking through the woods at dusk and the finale which uses light and shadow in some interesting ways.
What Doesn’t: What the 2024 version of Salem’s Lot gains in efficiency it loses in characterization. Especially compared to the 1979 television version, the feature adaptation of Salem’s Lot lacks depth in both the characters and the depiction of the town. The picture loses the rough edge and the humanity of the people involved. Some of the casting feels off, namely Pilou Asbæk as R.T. Straker, the vampire’s assistant. Asbæk comes across like a cartoon villain. This version of Salem’s Lot is set in the 1970s and that makes sense given that the novel was published in 1975. However, the film’s production design and digital cinematography are all too clean. This version doesn’t look authentically of the 1970s which makes it superfluous when we already have a version of this story produced in that decade.
Disc extras: Available on the Max streaming service.
Bottom Line: The 2024 version of Salem’s Lot never really justifies its existence. This is the third time through this material and this version does not really do any of it better, and is in some respects worse, than the 1979 miniseries.
Episode: #1019 (October 27, 2024)