My Review of Salem's Lot (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Gary Dauberman

Ben (to Susan): "I've always written stories about things that are so terrible, you'll run away til your brain won't remember."

I did watch and review the previous versions of this adaptation, so of course I was going to watch and review this one. We've had two miniseries and now it was time for the movie version. Albeit not one for theatres during the scariest month of the year.

Rethreading this again, you've got writer Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returning to his home town of Jerusalem's Lot and noticing that the Marsten House as well as a local antiques store has been bought by the mysterious Kurt Barlow (Alexander Ward) and his right hand man, Richard Straker (Pilou Asbaek). Of course it's not the only thing he noticed.

There was local girl Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh) that he struck up a romance with as well as the bizarre behaviour of the locals. Then there was the spate of mystery deaths and yes, it turned out that vampires had taken over the town. Fortunately for Ben and Susan, they had allies in their corner.

The allies included teacher Matthew Burke (Bill Camp), Dr Cody (Alfre Woodard), faithless Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey) and of course, escape artist wannabe Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter). Most of the same beats are explored here yet again.

We saw Matthew's attempts of helping local lad Mike (Spencer Treat Clark), resulting in the latter being beyond help as well as Callahan's lack of faith coming back to haunt him, Mark losing his parents and the tragic relationship between Ben and Susan played out yet and being the dullest version of said relationship in live action thus far.

As for Kurt Barlow. He looks good and Alexander Ward does give a decent performance. I mean he does really go for it and the design certainly doesn't jar. I just didn't find it particularly terrifying or as compelling as it could've been.

- Originally this was meant to be a theatrical release before it got sent to Max. UK and Ireland did get a theatrical release.

- The movies shown at the drive through were The Drowning Pool and Night Moves.

- Standout music: Gordon Lightfoot's Sundown.

- Chronology: Despite being a 2024 release, the film is set in the 1970s like the book itself.

Look, it's not a bad version of Salem's Lot but at the same time, it's not a shock this went to Max instead of a wider theatre release. Diverting but not a must see. 

Rating: 6 out of 10