Salem's Lot (DVD)

Yet another film based on a Stephen King novel, Salem's Lot is so cheesy its actually quite good. It is a vampire story taking place in a small town as most of Kings work, It was Kings second novel and first published in 1975. King knows quite well how to tell a story, how to build tension and make the evil seem real enough if he wants to and I have always felt that his take on the vampire genre in Salem’s Lot stood out among other releases. Not without reason is King repeatedly going back to this particular novel to lift distinctive elements off for his other stories. Plot devices and character templates from Salem’s Lot can be found in Needful Things, ...  Read the complete review

As an avid reader of Stephen King novels, I watch movie adaptions with caution. Many a classic chiller has been turned into a long-winded, drawn-out melodrama with a bit of the supernatural tacked on to it. When I first watched Salem's Lot, I had never read any King novels...in gact, I don't think I'd even heard of the guy then! It was shown on BBC1 at 9:30pm on two consecutive nights. I'd just read the TV Times which said it was a 2-part Vampire movie. Let me point out one thing: if you ever get to see this classic TV movie, see it in its original 2-part/3 hour form and not the 2 hour version edited later. It may appear more ...  Read the complete review

Salem's Lot is a horror film and also extended to become a miniseries. It's adapted from the short story by Stephen King and is directed by Tobe Hooper, who horror fans may know also directed "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "Poltergeist". Ben Mears (David Soul) is an author who is returning to his old home, Salem's Lot, to write a book about the town's supposed hanunted house, Marsten House. He is quickly seen as suspicious and is kept an eye on by the police chief. But there is also another new face in Salem's Lot, an antiques dealer by the name of Straker (James Mason) whose Boss, Mr. Barlow, no-one has ever seen. Soon after Ben's ...  Read the complete review

This film is an adaptation of the Stephen King book Salem’s Lot. Ben Mears is a writer, he returns to his hometown of Salem’s Lot, Maine. He wants to rent the old Marsden house; to conquer his childhood fear of the house. But when he inquires about the house, a stranger called Straker, has beat him to it, and bought the house. Straker opens an antique shop in the town, and often speaks of his business partner the mysterious Mr Barlow. Straker asks two local men too collect a crate, from the docks, and put the crate in the house's cellar. Two brothers Danny and Ralph are taking a short cut home, they get separated, ...  Read the complete review

This is probably Kings best story. Unlike his later work this book is much more descriptive and has some classic moments which were never featured in the film/mini series which was first shown in 1979. Many of Kings best stories centre around characters which King can actually relate to. In this case a writer who returns to his home town of Salem in New England planning to write a book. After having a fair amount of writers block the writer finds that writing about the current goings on in Salem would make a best seller. The book centres on another newcomer an antiques seller and his partner the mysterious Mr Barlow. When a boy goes missing and is found dead ...  Read the complete review