‘Salem’s Lot’ review: A fun Stephen King romp
3.5/5 library catalogs
At this point in our society, everyone has their favorite Stephen King stories. As a fan of The Shining, I love when King gets a little twisted. But when he does lean into the horrifying beasts and monsters of our nightmares, it is always a good time.
That’s where Salem’s Lot lives. The 1975 novel follows a writer who returns to a town he lived in as a child only to discover that vampires are running amok. The 2024 film stars Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, a writer who has come home. As he’s looking around his hometown, trying to remember what it was like when he lived there, he finds that everything isn’t as it seems.
Set in the 70s, the joy of the film comes from the small town vibes that take over Jerusalem’s Lot. The Gary Dauberman take on Salem’s Lot doesn’t stray far from the vibes you’d expect. Just a straight forward look at the vampire story without adjusting too much of the story. But it makes for a refreshing look into King’s work.
We’ve seen vampire stories done time and time again but King has a unique ability to bring a typical monster story to life with a deeper meaning hidden within its pages. This adaptation of Salem’s Lot is a little more straight forward. However those themes are still important.
Pullman’s Ben is charismatic and smart but he is also seen as an outsider to the sleepy town. When he starts to fall for a girl named Susan (Makenzie Leigh) in town, he realizes how deep the hatred the citizens have for “outsiders” resides. It is why the vampires having their time in town comes as such a shock to those humans still living in Salem’s Lot.
A brilliant cast to bring King’s world to life
Outside of Pullman and Leigh’s ability as romantic leads, the film has Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody, a physician trying to navigate the infestation and figure out what is happening to her patients. We also have a stellar younger cast with Jordan Preston Carter playing Mark, a young boy who uses his love of comics to take on the vampires in town.
The cast really makes this work. Without them leading the charge, it could be another vampire movie we all forget about. But with a lot riding against this (like beloved previous adaptations), Dauberman manages to make a version of Salem’s Lot that feels like a softball entry into King’s world for new fans. But it also shares that love and appreciation of the stories that King wrote for older fans.
It isn’t a perfect adaptation nor is it the best King story out there. But this Salem’s Lot is just a nice spooky tale to have this Halloween season. I don’t think it really needs to reinvent the horror wheel nor do I think it is a movie that aims to do that. If anything, it just feels like a fun and easy thing to watch this Halloween.
If you’re looking for that King adaptation to dive into this October, Salem’s Lot is a great choice.
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