Salem’s Lot ** (2024, Lewis Pullman, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, John Benjamin Hickey, Mike Bash) – Classic Movie Review 13,159

Gary Dauberman’s 2024 supernatural horror film Salem’s Lot is based on Stephen King’s novel, and stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Pilou Asbæk and Alfre Woodard. It looks stylish but where are the scares?

‘Be careful what you invite inside’

The disappointing 2024 American supernatural horror film Salem’s Lot is written and directed by Gary Dauberman, based on the 1975 novel by Stephen King, and stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Pilou Asbæk, Alfre Woodard, Debra Christofferson, and William Sadler.

Salem’s Lot (2024) is a cheesy, tacky and schlocky second remake, the first for cinema, of the Wes Craven/ David Soul TV classic. It is not terrible but not terribly good either. It is stylish looking, but what has happened to Stephen King’s characters and storylines, and where are the scares and the frights? Where’s the terror? Isn’t it supposed to be a horror movie. It is so bland.

Lewis Pullman stars as author Ben Mears, who returns to his childhood hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine, after 25 years in search of inspiration a book about the abandoned Marsten House, but discovers the town is being preyed on by a vampire.

It starts well with two dithering idiots delivering the vampire’s coffin to the creepy abandoned Marsten House, and proceeds OK with Ben Mears’s arrival in town, and introduction to the town weirdoes. But then it begins to slow and stall. So you are just left waiting for the big scenes with the vampire, and of course the big action finish. But somehow they don’t happen, or they hardly happen, and the movie just slips away, as the opportunity slips through the director’s fingers.

Unfortunately Lewis Pullman (son of Bill) doesn’t make much of an impression as author Ben Mears, underplaying commendably but dangerously so it feel like he’s sleepwalking instead of panicking (there be vampires around!) and judging what’s at stake. Very unusually, the old character actors are a let-down, with only Bill Camp as the teacher Matthew Burke any good. Pilou Asbæk, the guy playing antique dealer Mr Straker (the old James Mason part), messes it up in a weird, smirky, fussy turn, and is given so little to do anyway it becomes a pointless side character, which isn’t the point at all. He is Mr Barlow’s friend! And the vampire? Reggie Nalder much so much better as Barlow in the original Salem’s Lot (1979). Alexander Ward doesn’t have any kind of acting role as Kurt Barlow.

The young actors (Jordan Preston Carter as Mark Petrie, Nicholas Crovetti as Danny Glick, Cade Woodward as Ralph Glick) playing the kids are moderate, but then they are hardly given characterised roles to play, just reduced to running around or being scared.

The climax in the drive-in (showing The Drowning Pool and Night Moves) is a let-down mess. The vampire isn’t very scary at all, is kept mostly till the end of the film (though he makes teasing trailer-style appearances from early on), and has way too little to do at the climax. The handy vampire-fighting lit-up crosses are just silly and get truly boring.

Thanks to the Massachusetts shooting, and some imaginative images from cinematographer Michael Burgess, the movie looks good, and two or three times it even looks great, and the Early Seventies east coast small-town look is well and attractively done, with a lot of lovely period cars to drool over.

Reggie Nalder as Barlow, in Salem’s Lot (1979).

The prominently displayed poster of Trog is a reminder of how much fun bad horror movies can be. Salem’s Lot (2024) isn’t bad enough to be that much fun, though it is quite fun sometimes, but you’d never, ever want to see it again, and no one could say that about the 1979 David Soul version Salem’s Lot, or even the 2004 Rob Lowe version Salem’s Lot.

It was shot in 2021, with additional photography in late May and early June 2022 and set to be released on 9 September 2022, but many delays followed. It premiered as the opening film at the Beyond Fest on 25 September 2024, and was released on the streaming service Max on 3 October 2024.

Cast: Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, Makenzie Leigh as Susan Norton, Alfre Woodard as Dr Cody, William Sadler as Parkins Gillespie, Bill Camp as Matthew Burke, Pilou Asbæk as Richard Straker, John Benjamin Hickey as Father Callahan, Jordan Preston Carter as Mark Petrie, Debra Christofferson as Anne Norton, Spencer Treat Clark as Mike Ryerson, Nicholas Crovetti as Danny Glick, Cade Woodward as Ralph Glick, and Alexander Ward as Kurt Barlow.

Duration: 113 minutes.

Production: New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Vertigo Entertainment, The Wolper Organization, Wolper Organization.

Principal photography started in Boston in September 2021, with Michael Burgess as cinematographer. Filming Massachusetts took place in Ipswich, as well as Sterling and Clinton in Worcester County. The Princeton Public Library was a location for three days.

Nathan Barr and Lisbeth Scott compose the score, going for the dull and obvious, playing safe and familiar, when unusual and innovative is needed.

Gary Dauberman wrote Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017), The Nun (2018), and his directorial debut Annabelle Comes Home (2019). He co-wrote It (2017), and wrote It Chapter Two (2019).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,159

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