Stephen King wrote Salem’s Lot in 1975 and the novel was turned into a satisfying miniseries four years later, but that CBS adaptation had to cut and change several elements to create the two-night television epic. Now, we’re due a new retelling of this story, with an HBO version of the vampire tale that was supposed to be released in 2022, now slated for later this year. However, most have forgotten about the entry that came in 2004, TNT’s attempt to update the timeline and change the focus, in what might be an underrated take on Salem’s Lot.
“Whoever feeds you…is your god.”
Writing the adaptation this time was Peter Filardi (The Craft, Flatliners), who helped take the story of Ben Mears (Rob Lowe) – a writer returning home to confront his past traumas, only to find it infested with vampires – and shines the spotlight on the darkness in small towns, secrets, and how horrible people can be even without an evil influence looming over them. The audience is told not to romanticize small-town life, not to think that just because people often say nothing happens there that there’s nothing important occurring behind closed doors, sometimes it is just buried deeper. Focusing on the details, on the lives and downward spirals of people is very King-esque, and we see everyone’s faults, their mistakes, and guilt, these are believable characters and there are hints of even worse actions that might have been explored had vampires not decided to wreak havoc. I love the idea that someone like Larry Crockett (Robert Grubb) is worse as a normal human than a supernatural ghoul, because at least we understand why vampires do what they do, it’s just in their nature to kill and feed.
The 1979 version of Salem’s Lot is technically more impressive and, though dated, provides a bit more horror, but the 2004 remake arguably understands and elaborates on the characters better. This version also takes some of the classic moments from the original without copying them too directly while attempting to bring their own frights in as well. Not everything works as intended, but certain moments, like the altercation in the jail cell, help try to pull viewers in and ramp up the brutality (especially toward children) while still keeping it somewhat suitable for network television. With these restrictions, the miniseries still almost manages to capture that gleeful sense of dread a story like this provides and attempts to show several neat powers and circumstances as it plays with King’s tweaks to the vampire lore.
I love the character depth, which helps boost the overall story, but I had to watch it twice to fully catch some of the finer points. This special starts with an interesting framework of our main character attacking someone and ending up in a hospital, given the opportunity to tell his horrible tale to an enthralled doctor. Having them fall on the cop car out of the window was a solid bit of sudden action before slowing things down and showing how everything started. We get some fun narration segments from Mears, but the beginning has a ton of exposition that goes by rather quickly, as well as some hints at a few key deaths, and it is easy to miss some of the information, though most of it comes back up later. The dialog is sometimes clever and a little cheesy, but foremost, this doctor should never rap again.
Some of the characters put things together rather quickly, but we need people to buy into this whole vampire thing to get the action rolling. The second installment may feel like it’s better because there’s more action going on, but I think this is best experienced as a whole film, assuming viewers don’t mind the three-hour and one-minute runtime. I also love how some of the smaller plots matter, even after characters know they’re dealing with the supernatural, because they’re expecting to live through all of this and deal with the repercussions. However, I absolutely love that no one is safe. Some of these characters absolutely deserved what they get, and I have to appreciate that the Sheriff just said ‘screw it’ and left town when he realized what they were up against.
Although I think some parts are overdone stylistically, like Ben’s flashbacks or the jump-scare from the toast (is it paranoia if the vampires truly are out to get you?), several of the deaths work to not only feel meaningful and illicit sadness but also look kind of sick. The staking feels savage, and I love it when a vampire (or his minion, in this case) stakes one of the mortal hunters to give them a taste of their own medicine. Guess we should just start biting vampires back.
When the undead are pierced through the heart they sometimes go upward, like their soul is trying to escape or their bodies want to flee in one last futile attempt. The effects don’t look great, but considering the time and TV budget, I’m not hating on them too much. I feel like the crew tried to do something different, and at least it felt creative, if not a bit too sparkly, during a certain ashing. The movement of the supernatural creatures was serviceable on the ground, while the flying was certainly not the best wirework I’ve ever seen. Audiences saw some excellent backgrounds, using over 300 extras and far-off shots (they filmed Australia as Maine for some reason), but I question a couple of these transitions.
The music in Salem’s Lot is also a bit of the time this was made, a slightly out-of-place early ‘00s flavor capped off perfectly with a cover of Paint It Black performed by Gob. Some of the score works here, creepy music to help amplify certain scenes when it isn’t bordering on being too much, like the parts where the ghostly choir sounds like human theremins.
“You guys hear about the hippie vampire? He’s ghoul man, real ghoul.”
One thing this version of the story wasn’t lacking was notable actors. Helping to back Lowe up were names like Samantha Mathis, James Cromwell, and the incredible Andre Braugher, whom I always loved in Homicide: Life on the Streets, but most people know him now for Brooklyn Nine-Nine. People like to point out how he gets shunted off to a hospital bed for most of this story, but he has a few amazing scenes too. For the bad guys, we have the recently departed and truly wonderful Donald Sutherland as Richard Straker, who manages to do some solid acting as well as ham it up in the same conversations, and I’m haunted by his tongue movements while imitating that goat mask. He plays servant to Rutger Hauer’s master vampire, Kurt Barlow, who apparently brings an evil odor wherever he goes.
This is an actor who also pulls a couple of excellent scenes out, but according to Rob Lowe’s book, Love Life, Hauer was somewhat difficult to work with and insisted on ad-libbing his big final speech, which turned out to be less-than-stellar. They had to negotiate with the actor to get him back on script, but Hauer didn’t know the pages. This meant that his lines had to be on cards for the master vampire to read, probably answering why that last exchange felt a bit awkward.
The 2004 iteration of Salem’s Lot isn’t perfect. It feels a bit stuck in the year it was made and hampered by being on TNT, but I think those who call it underrated have enough positive evidence to point out an argument. Sure, the ending is a bit abrupt and confusing, but avid readers will tell you several of King’s stories feel that way. Some people didn’t like this less-likable version of Ben Mears – they called him a typist – others didn’t think it was scary enough, and a few just couldn’t appreciate the ham-fisted references to The Stand and Cujo, but most agree that the Stand by Me song reference worked fine. That’s the perfect way to look at this version of Salem’s Lot–it’s fine. This imagining isn’t doing anything groundbreaking, but it tried something slightly different and might be worth checking out on Amazon or DVD until the new one flies into town.
