'Salem's Lot (film)

Writer Ben Mears returns to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot to write a book about his childhood. He befriends and starts a romantic relationship with Susan Norton, a local who has an overbearing mother and dreams of leaving town. Meanwhile, middle school student Mark Petrie finds himself the target of a school bully and meets school teacher Matt Burke. A strange European man called Straker opens an antique store in town and moves into the long-abandoned Marsten House which has a history of murders. Straker has a large coffin shipped into the house and placed in the basement. Straker kidnaps one of Mark's friends Ralphie and sacrifices him to his master, a vampire called Kurt Barlow. A search party is unsuccessful in finding the boy and the residents blame newcomer Ben. An unseen creature attacks Ralphie's brother Danny and he later dies from Pernicious Anemia. After his funeral, Danny emerges from his coffin, now a vampire, and bites gravedigger Mike.

Matt encounters a sickly Mike at a bar and invites him to stay the night before taking him to a doctor. After noticing a set of strange symptoms, Matt suspects that Mike has been turned into a vampire. After witnessing Danny fly into his house through a window, Matt flees and tells Ben and Susan. Along with Dr. Cody and Sheriff Gillespie, the group examines Mike's now lifeless body although Matt does not tell Cody or Gillespie about what he saw. Later that night, Mike returns, fully turned into a vampire but Matt is able to ward him off with a cross. Danny attempts to trick Mark into letting him into the house but Mark resists and also fends off Danny. Mark researches how to kill vampires. The next day, Dr. Cody is informed that Danny and Ralphie's mother has been found dead from the same disease that killed her son. After discovering that Mike's body has also vanished, Cody confronts Matt and he tells her, Ben, and Susan about the vampires and how to defeat them.

Mark and Matt both break into the Marsten house to kill Barlow but are locked in the basement by Straker. Barlow bites Matt while Straker captures Mark. Meanwhile, Ben, Susan, and Dr. Cody investigate Danny's mother's body at the morgue. She turns and bites Dr. Cody before being destroyed with a cross, but Dr. Cody manages to stop herself from turning by injecting herself with a rabies shot. Barlow's vampires rapidly turn the town's residents. The next day, Mark escapes his bindings and kills Straker. Seeking shelter at the church, Ben, Susan, and Dr. Cody consult the town's priest Father Callahan about what to do. Mark arrives informing them of what occurred at the Marsten house and about Barlow. They investigate the property and are attacked by a turned Matt in the basement. Ben kills him with a wooden stake. The town is completely overtaken by vampires. Sheriff Gillespie attempts to flee the town while Susan and Ben try to warn Susan's mother. Susan's mother reveals she has taken over Straker's role as human servant to Barlow and Susan is bitten by a vampire. Ben flees with Susan.

Father Callahan attempts to convince Mark's parents of the danger but they are ambushed and killed by Barlow. Mark flees and takes shelter in his treehouse from his former classmates, all now turned into vampires. Ben takes Susan who is in the midst of turning to the church which is protected holy ground from the vampires. Dr. Cody is unable to cure her and Susan fully turns, fleeing. Ben gives chase and is attacked by the turned town residents, seeking shelter in the church with Cody. Gillespie's corpse is thrown into the church by the vampires. Mark searches for Barlow and breaks into Straker's antique store where he kills Danny. He is found by Ben and Dr. Cody and the group realize the vampires are sheltering at the local drive-in movie theatre, using the cars as coffins. As they prepare to kill Susan, Dr. Cody is shot dead by Susan's mother. The sun starts to set and the vampires attack Ben. Mark runs over Susan's mother and destroys the theatre screen, exposing the vampires to sunlight and killing them all. Night falls as Barlow emerges from his coffin and attacks Mark. Ben kills Susan and manages to save Mark, killing Barlow with a stake. With the town's residents wiped out, Ben and Mark drive off.

'Salem's Lot is an adaptation of the 1975 novel by Stephen King. The feature film from New Line Cinema was announced in April 2019 when The Hollywood Reporter revealed Gary Dauberman was set to write the screenplay and executive produce and James Wan was attached as a producer.^[11] In an interview, Dauberman was asked if he would apply the same writing approach he utilized for It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), adaptations of King's novel It, to which he replied "I like to be as true to the story as I possibly can until it gets a little too unwieldy for a movie."^[12]

In April 2020, Dauberman closed a deal to become director.^[13] In August 2021, Lewis Pullman was selected to portray the film's lead role.^[2] On September 6, principal photography commenced in Boston with cinematographer Michael Burgess.^[14][15][16] Filming in the state of Massachusetts took place in Ipswich and the towns of Sterling and Clinton, both within Worcester County.^[17] The Princeton Public Library in Princeton, Massachusetts, was also booked as a filming location for three days.^[18] Additional photography occurred in late May or early June 2022.^[19] During post-production, Nathan Barr and Lisbeth Scott composed the score for the film.^[20] According to Dauberman, the film was shortened from a duration of almost three hours, which would have included, among other things, the opening scene set in the Marsten House.^[10]

'Salem's Lot was originally set to be released in theaters on September 9, 2022,^[21] the post-Labor Day weekend that had been successful for the studio's past horror releases, but was delayed to April 21, 2023,^[19] "due to COVID-related delays in the post-production realm", before losing its release date to Evil Dead Rise.^[22]

There was growing concern that the project would be scrapped like Coyote vs. Acme or Batgirl, which were cancelled on November 9, 2022, and August 3, 2022, respectively, along with Scoob! Holiday Haunt, despite some of them being nearly completely photographed and deep into post-production. These films were ultimately treated as tax write-offs for the production company in the context of the Warner Bros. Discovery restructuring.^[23]

However, by October 2023, Warner Bros. was considering releasing the film on Max, due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike creating a "growing need for Max content", although a spokesperson stated no decision regarding the film's future distribution plans had been made yet.^[24] In February 2024, King questioned why there were still no confirmed release plans for the film, stating that he is "not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it's embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the fucking things."^[25][26] Dauberman believes that this escalation in King's speech contributed to the eventual finalization.^[27] In March, Warner Bros. confirmed that it would be released on Max, and in August, it was scheduled for an October 2024 launch.^[23][28]

Before broader accessibility, it was the opening film at Beyond Fest on September 25, 2024.^[29] The film was then released exclusively OTT on October 3, 2024.^[30] Releasing Salem's Lot in October, ahead of Nosferatu in December, and on Max instead of theaters, helped avoid competition between the two films, preventing a potential split in ticket sales and viewership.^[31]

The Film Distributors' Association reported that it would be theatrically released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 11, 2024.^[32] Residents of the UK do not have access to Max due to due existing agreements inked between Warner Bros. and Sky ("the exclusive distributor of most HBO content" in the UK) that do not expire until late 2025.^[33][34]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 45% of 97 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "An old-fashioned spookfest, this 'Salem's Lot won't be the definitive adaptation of Stephen King's famed vampire tale but it makes for a solid reintroduction to a new generation of audiences."^[35] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[36]

Josh Korngut of Dread Central awarded the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Despite its occasional scares and striking style, this adaptation lacks any of the terror or emotional depth of its Stephen King source material."^[37] Bloody Disgusting's Meagan Navarro also gave the film 2/5 stars, noting, "it's an adaptation that feels heavily tampered with, gutting all story and character development solely in favor of vampire scares."^[38]

• List of adaptations of works by Stephen King
• List of vampire films

• 'Salem's Lot at IMDb