Salem’s Lot, 2024.
Written and Directed by Gary Dauberman.
Starring Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk, John Benjamin Hickey, William Sadler, Jordan Preston Carter, Nicholas Crovetti, Cade Woodward, Kellan Rhude, Debra Christofferson, Rebecca Gibel, Mike Bash, Fedna Jacquet, Avery Bederman, Liam Anderson, Marilyn Busch, Sage Rudnick, Alyana Hill, Gavin Maddox Bergman, and Alexander Ward.
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.
Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot has an abundance of characters, with writer/director Gary Dauberman seemingly uninterested in positioning one group front and center in this adaptation. Instead, the film jumps between them, ranging from adults to children, often forgetting to develop any of these characters or explain who they are and what they care about. Whether this is a casualty of trying to adapt the entire novel into a 113-minute movie or just incompetent filmmaking is up for debate (I don’t think I’ve ever read the novel, and I don’t remember anything about previous adaptations), but one thing is for sure; this story is empty and lacks scares. The only portion it comes close to working is during some third-act vampire-battling that comes with clever kills, thrills, and urgency.
Taking place in Salem’s Lot (a rural Maine town as in most Stephen King works), there is a vested interest in bringing it to life, showing off as many establishments and locations as possible. In some ways, this takes away from time that could go to actual characterization, but the effort is admirable nonetheless. Among those stores is a new furniture place opened up by Barlow and his business partner Straker (Alexander Ward and Pilou Asbæk), with the former secretly being a vampire and having the other do his bidding to prepare for a takeover. Their headquarters is also an abandoned house thought to be haunted.
Meanwhile, author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) has returned to town for the first time since childhood, having not felt right there from a young age and looking to reclaim some of that uneasiness while getting in touch with his roots. He befriends the local school teacher Matt Burke (Bill Camp, frequently and amusingly seen rocking a Boston Red Sox jacket) while learning about the town from a potential love interest in Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh.) Their first day is taking in drive-in movie experiences that intriguingly work as an effective way for her to point out other noteworthy people in town and their personalities.
Elsewhere, a group of kids playing around occasionally get bullied. The most significant of the bunch is Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter), who is fearless and unafraid to lay a good punch on those bullies. It’s an impressive performance that makes the character’s inevitable and similar bravery in fending for survival against vampires more natural. In a town where good people are apparently a dying breed, Mark is someone to look up to and aspire to be, making the adults here look like cowards in comparison. It’s a talented and defiant performance that made one wish more of the film had centered on the kids in general, which would have lent more stakes to them getting snatched up and turned into vampires (one of the film’s only genuinely striking scenes observes such an abduction with silhouette lighting.)
Instead, the film doubles down on trying to make its human drama work, which also comes to involve Susan’s mother becoming increasingly irritated that she is considering dating an outsider rather than any of the men she suggests. The point eventually trying to be made here comes across as more unintentionally comical than sharply satirical about society. During this, there is also a search for the missing children, except the narrative here is trying to put so much in motion that the passage of time is hardly felt.
Eventually, everyone joins forces, including a doctor played by Alfre Woodard, reckoning whether or not they believe something supernatural is occurring. Soon after, they find themselves fighting vampires and trying to avoid getting turned, just like some of the children have. It all leads to a somewhat exciting sundown showdown at that drive-in theater, but that’s mostly due to the staging of the action and has nothing to do with caring about any of these characters or the story and themes, which feels like an insult to a Stephen King adaptation. None of this is helped by special effects that look straight out of early 2000s TV, not something that initially had a chance of going to theaters.
Salem’s Lot is bypassing a theatrical release to go straight to Max, which begs the question, why not flesh this out into an actual series to develop the characters? As is, it feels like a string of scenes that continuously forget about essential characters, relegating much of their progression offscreen. Whatever reason there is to get engaged in any of this is sucked out dry.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
