Blog-o-ween 2024: Day 27

Lots of ‘Salem’s Lot

Free Day #4

Drawing Lots:

Adaptations of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot

Sunrise: 7:08 AM

Sunset: 6:04 PM

Well, Blog-o-weeners, we are cutting it close today, aren’t we? I’m usually very conscientious about posting these entries earlier in the day. Writing a daily blog means, to me at least, posting soon after having that morning cup of joe. Anything less would be…well…I’ll let my friend Charles Barkley fill you in…

I’m not one to hand out weak excuses about being behind schedule or not having time to write and post and all that happy-crappy…which is why I’ve got a really good, strong excuse! Yesterday, I attended my first Horror-thon at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA. Last night’s was the 19th iteration of that time-honored tradition of watching movies in a packed theatre from dusk to dawn. All in all there were six films screened from 7:00 pm Saturday to 7:00 am Sunday: Species (1995), Devil Times Five (1974), Flesheater (1988), Bug (1975), Sleepwalkers (1992), and Black Roses (1988). In between these cinematic gems, there were skits, A.I.-generated insanity, appearances by Corn Gorn (the Living God), Mecca Corn Gorn, Telly Savalas, Abraham LinkedIn, Bill (the Business King of Red Roof Inn), and much, much more. We visited Duluth, got candy from Randy, and many (many!) puzzles of Dallas were handed out. A good time was had by all—except those who like washing machines.

(Don’t ask.)

So, instead of getting up this morning at 8:00 am, going for a walk, then coming home, making some coffee, and sitting at the computer to get some work done, I was walking out of the Aero, going to Dogtown Coffee in Santa Monica for a Munchie Burrito and a coffee, then driving home, and putting my tuchus to bed!

I am all kinds of out of whack, kiddies, but goshdarnit, I am here to put things right. You were promised the last free day of Blog-o-ween 2024 and that’s what I am here to deliver. It is kind of fitting that I spent all night watching horror movies, because that is what we are going to be talking about today—specifically the filmed adaptations of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot. There are quite of few of them, so let’s jump right into the fanged fun, hmm?

First up, is the king (pun intended!) of the ‘Salem’s Lot adaptations: Tobe Hooper’s 1979 made-for-tv movie. This one is a beloved (and/or terrifying) memory for most Monster Kids of a certain vintage. Producer Richard Kobritz thought that one could not do justice to King’s epic novel in a standard feature film format. Ninety minutes was just not enough time. Instead, Kobritz suggested to Warner Bros. that he and screenwriter Paul Monash be allowed to create a television miniseries. They were given the go ahead, and after completing the script, choosing Tobe Hooper (thanks to a screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), and being granted a $4 million budget, the miniseries went into production in July of 1979 and wrapped a month later in August. The finished product hit the small screens of America in November of 1979.

As with any adaptations, changes were made and liberties taken with the source material. Instead of the urbane, suave vampire of the novel, we are given a grunting, growling version of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922). Certain characters are combined into a single one. For example, there is no Dr. Jimmy Cody in the miniseries. That character is combined with Susan’s father, Bill. It is just the nature of the beast when it comes to adapting a large scale story to television. There just is never enough time or money to make an exact replica of a novel.

For all of the changes, however, there are many scenes that are branded in the brains of all those who witnessed them as kids. We’ve talked about a few — Ralphie Glick’s visit to his brother Danny, Mrs. Glick waking up on the mortuary slab, Larry Crockett getting found in Bonnie Sawyer’s bed by her husband. Even though these are moments from a made-for-tv movie, Hooper is able to infuse them with quite a bit unease and terror. David Soul makes a great Ben Mears, Bonnie Bedelia is a lovely Stan Norton, and Lance Kerwin is everyone’s favorite Monster Kid, Mark Petrie. It is James Mason as Rickard Straker that is the casting coup of the production. Mason’s Straker is every bit as oily and dangerous as the one in the book—albeit with more hair!

Because of the changes rendered to King’s novel in 1979, fans of ‘Salem’s Lot hoped that things would be different when it was announced that a new version was in production in 2004. Made as another two-part television miniseries, this time for the American cable station TNT. Written by Peter Filardi and directed by Mikael Salomon, this version of ‘Salem’s Lot takes place in the 2000s. The cast is a good one — Rob Lowe as Ben Mears, Rutger Hauer as Barlow, Donald Sutherland as Straker, Andre Braugher as Matt Burke, and James Cromwell as Father Callahan — but the overall effect of the series is a bit bland. This one takes even more liberties with King’s characters and situations, some interesting (Father Callahan, under the control of Barlow, kills Matt), others not so much (the frame story of Ben and Father Callahan fighting and falling out of the window of a homeless shelter).

Maybe it was the bad taste left in the mouth of the 2004 remake that set ‘Salem’s Lot up for another remake in 2021. Written and directed by Gary Dauberman, this version of King’s tale was announced in 2019, filmed in 2021, then shelved until its eventual release to the streaming service Max in 2024. That timeline of events does not make one confident in the final product. Even the author’s enthusiastic review of the feature film wasn’t enough to encourage Warner Bros. to put into theaters.

Could this poster look more "meh"?

(Disclaimer: I have not seen this movie, so I don’t know whether it's good, bad, or meh.)

This version of the story is set in the 1970s, making it contemporary with the novel’s time. It stars Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, Makenzie Leigh as Susan Norton, Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody, Jordan Preston Carter as Mark Petrie, Pilou Asbæk as Richard Straker, Alexander Ward as Kurt Barlow. To be fair, aside from the great Alfre Woodard (see my reviews of the television mystery series Tucker’s Witch to find out how I feel about Ms. Woodard) and William Sadler as Parkins Gillespie, I couldn’t pick the rest of the cast out of a police line-up. Not that having a cast full of (relatively speaking) unknowns is a bad thing, I just think some more recognizable faces would have helped the whole production find its audience in the theater and not on a dumb streaming app.

If you recall Free Day #2—the one where we discussed the other short stories by Stephen King that feature the Lot—you may recognize the name Chapelwaite. This was the name of the ancestral home of main character Charles Boone, the one that had the strange sounds of rats in the walls (amongst other things!). It is also the name of a ten-episode, single-season television series that aired on Epix. Written by Peter Filardi (the same writer as the 2004 miniseries) and his brother Jason Filardi, this series features Adrain Brody as Charles Boone. Here, Boone is a sea captain who moves his children to Preacher’s Corners, Maine, after the death of his wife.

(Disclaimer: I have not seen this series, so I don’t know whether its good, bad, or meh. It’s got Adrian Brody, who I find interesting, and it is set in the 1850s, so it can’t be all that bad, right?)

My personal favorite adaptation of ‘Salem’s Lot is neither a theatrical film or television series. It is a seven-part BBC Radio 4 dramatization broadcast in 1994. Like the other adaptations of King’s novel, there are slight changes here and there, but for the most part, this version is the most faithful to the source material. Dramatized by Gregory Evans and directed by Adrian Bean, this ‘Salem’s Lot will make your skin crawl. The sound design is spot on, and the music by Elizabeth Parker of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop is wonderful. I wish more novels got the BBC Radio drama treatment. You can find all seven episodes on the Internet Archive (natch) here.

Well, today’s free day discussion was better late than never, was it not, kiddies? I’m glad we got the chance to talk about all of these adaptations. Let me know which one is you favorite and why. I’d love to know!

Tomorrow, we pick back up where we left off yesterday. Please read Part 3, Chapter 14: The Lot (IV), Sections 33-40. We’ll see more horrors unfold for the people of the Lot. We’ll also see what happens when people don’t learn the lesson of not splitting the party the first time. (Guess what? It’s still a bad idea!)

Remember: whichever version of ‘Salem’s Lot you decide to watch (or listen to), it’s best to…