Well, Salem’s Lot… that definitely wasn’t full of sexy vampires, as promised.
It’s been a long time since I revisited the original Salem’s Lot made-for-tv movie from 1979. And I can’t remember anything about the theatrically released follow-up to that Return to Salem’s Lot.
But I do remember the 2004 mini-series a little bit… mostly because of the absolute rocking cast it had going on.
I’m not sure I’ll remember much from this one in the years to come.
That’s not saying it’s not made relatively well. The production value is evident across the board, actually. The vampire designs are cool and just different enough to not feel ripped off (except maybe for Barlow, but that’s kind of expected, since we knew he was going to look more like the original mini-series design).
Even the cinematography is pretty excellent–there are some absolutely gorgeous shots to be found in this film. And some really creative transitions between shots.
Thing is, this is a story that’s been done a lot before. Including more recently as part of a season of Castle Rock (where it was tied into a whole mash-up of King stories, just like the previous season had been). So there’s really not much about this iteration that stands out any more, plot-wise, than most of the other iterations.
It’s a vampire story.
It’s always been a vampire story. One of a few King wrote. It’s not even the one of his that did anything new or interesting with vampires. (Night Flyer was a cool idea for a vampire story… Salem’s Lot is pretty standard.)
I can tell you why this is getting low/bad reviews in a lot of places. It’s the pacing… and the dialog.
It’s paced like a classic 70s or 80s film. That translates to super slow and plodding by today’s standards. Sure, there are bursts of action, but the wait between them is just… so… long.
And the dialog, especially early in the film, is just wooden and feels a bit unnatural. And the kids don’t really talk like kids. But that’s all pretty common for King and adaptations of his work. But for casual viewers, or those with oddly elevated expectations, yeah, it’ll be an issue.
I enjoyed it well enough. I think people should give it a chance.
But I don’t think it’ll be rising up in my dreams making me think someone’s going to come knocking at my window. Nope, that’s still reserved for the original… because I was way too young when I saw that on TV.
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