Stephen King’s 1975 vampire novel comes to our screens for the third time, because you can’t keep a good bloodsucker down.
When is Salem’s Lot being released in the UK?
Salem’s Lot creeps into UK cinemas on October 11.
Salem's Lot
What is Salem’s Lot about?
Vampires!
But in greater detail, we follow Amiable everyman Ben Mears, a writer (there’s a shock) who returns to his childhood hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot to do some research for his next book. He finds the town in the early stages of a vampiric invasion by the mysterious and little-seen Kurt Barlow and his manservant/thrall, Richard Straker. As the vampire’s influence slowly corrupts the picturesque little town, our man Ben teams up with a ragtag group of townspeople to battle the evil. The general shorthand for the novel is “Dracula meets Peyton Place” and that’s not too shabby a description.
This is the third adaptation of King’s book, following Tobe Hooper’s 1979 TV miniseries, which is very good, and Mikael Salomon’s largely forgotten 2004 miniseries, which boasts Rutger Hauer and Donald Sutherland as Barlow and Straker respectively. This latest one is written and directed by Gary Dauberman, a veteran of the recent It adaptation and a frequent flyer at Blumhouse.
The cast of Salem’s Lot
Lewis Pullman, soon to be seen in Thunderbolts*, is Ben Mears; Makenzie Leigh is Susan Norton, local girl and love interest; Alfre Woodard is Dr. Cody, a key member of Ben’s vampire-hunting squad; Jordan Preston Carter is plucky kid vampire-killer Mark Petrie; John Benjamin Hickey is Father Callahan; Pilou Asbæk is Richard Straker; Alexander Ward is head vampire Kurt Barlow; the ever-reliable Bill Camp is high school teacher Matthew Burke; genre legend William Sadler is Parkins Gillespie; Spencer Treat Clark is gravedigger Mike Ryerson; and Nicholas Crovetti and Cade Woodward are Danny Glick and Ralph Glick, who…well, if you know you know.
Salem’s Lot trailer
Why we’re excited about Salem’s Lot
King’s book is an absolute banger and if you’ve never read it, do not hesitate to give it a crack. And while Big Steve himself praised the adaptation (as he is wont to do with almost every take on his work bar The Shining and The Lawnmower Man), critical response has been pretty mixed. Our own Stephen A. Russell was none too impressed, but your mileage may vary.
