SALEM'S LOT (2024) - Movie Review

Director: Gary Dauberman
Starring: Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Jordan Preston Carter, Alfre Woddard, Bill Camp, John Benjamin Hickey, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbaek, William Sadler
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Writer: Gary Dauberman
Runtime: 114 min
Rated: Rated R for bloody violence and language
Buy This Movie: Max

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Synopsis:

Author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.

Review:

After two miniseries, one in 1979 and another in 2004, Stephen King's 1975 novel "Salem's Lot" gets the feature film treatment. Writer/director Gary Dauberman is perhaps best known for writing the adaptation of King's best-selling behemoth "It" for the big screen in 2017 and 2019, but he's also penned most of the Conjuring spinoffs, including both "The Nun" and all three "Annabelle" films. He made his directorial debut with the godawful "Annabelle Comes Home", and "Salem's Lot" is only his second time in the director's chair.

I have to first confess that I have never read the book nor watched any of the miniseries. I am fairly familiar with King's body of work, however, enough to be able to spot some of his favorite tropes in this movie, including the small-town Maine community opressed by an evil force, the obligatory school bully, a writer protagonist, overly mature child characters fighting the supernatural, children getting brutally killed, a character struggling with alcoholism, etc.

While it's not the worst Stephen King adaptation ever made, it's not one of the better ones, either. Having not read the book, I can't attest to how faithful the adaptation is, but the plot progression feels rushed, and a bit clunky in the first half. I'm definitely curious to see how the miniseries handled this story. From what I've seen online, the vampire design is lifted almost directly from the 1979 series, so perhaps this is meant to be more of a remake of the miniseries, rather than a new adaptation of the book ?

The production values don't necessarily look cheap, but the movie does have a certain "made-for-TV" vibe. When CGI is deployed it looks iffy, and the whole production has a stagey feel. There are certain sequences that showcase some visual flair, including the fairly exciting drive-in climactic showdown, but most of the time it's flat and lifeless, reminding me of the director's "Annabelle Comes Home", which suffered from most of the same issues.

It's not particularly suspenseful or scary, but it does get the eerie atmosphere mostly right. However, the characters are disappointing and thinly drawn, which must be Dauberman's fault, because I know King to be a very skilled character writer. The acting is decent, but not spectacular, with Bill Camp, Alfre Woodard, William Sadler and Pilou Asbaek standing out among the ensemble.

Mike Flanagan already did a great version of "Salem's Lot" in his 2021 miniseries "Midnight Mass". I remember watching that show and being amazed at how well Flanagan infused it with Stephen King's spirit. And here we have a movie directly based on King's own book, which fails almost entirely to capture that essence.

Dauberman knows every trope in the horror book, but can't find a way to make them interesting and fresh. The result is a derivative horror film that feels rote and predictable even to someone unfamiliar with the source material. I can't even begin to imagine how King's fans must feel about this one. It's not entirely skippable, but it should be viewed with diminished expectations.

SCORE: 6/10