I really wanted to see “Salem’s Lot.” It is not simply because I am a devoted Stephen King fan and one who places much value on the original 1975 version, which I consider one of the finest works of the master of terror, but because such works, like “Batgirl” and “Coyote vs. Acme” just get buried indefinitely by Max/WB. This bar one viewed in this light threatened to go the same way as it had originally been set to be put out in theaters in late 2022, which was later removed in yet another round of postponements due to the pandemic. But that’s all it did after that; sit in limbo with a lot of people assuming it may end up getting clipped as part of the tax write-off craziness of its parent company. In February this year when Stephen King himself tweeted that he has watched and enjoyed the film, that is when WB sweetened the deal by stating that the film would be available on Max just in time for Halloween. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if all this fuss concealed an utterly magnificent horror film–one which ought to have never been regarded as a piece of junk? If only I could claim that was the case.
There’s a reason this story is repeated in mini-series form and its very simple. You cannot adapt it into a feature. Even at almost two hours, ‘Salem’s Lot (2024)’ seems to be laughably over lodged. They cut to scenes somewhere in the middle and even the expected means of showing the audience a short elapsed time is completely absent. It is not an exaggeration to state that there are scenes in ‘Salem’s Lot’ during the transition of which it is quite possible that you’ve fast forwarded several minutes and lost the narrative that connects scenes center stage. No, it is a statement of hope. It was witness to so many abstracting devices. Some scene transitions on ‘Salem’s Lot’ are so freaking bad that people are meant to assume that they were over the top jammed cut down. These butchers are wipes that have probably eroded all and any dignity this substance has ever had.
The cast is solid and a few make the effort to exert some influence. Bill Camp is always a welcome face and Hickey’s part about the weariness of faith is done just right. Pullman works initially, but eventually he gets tossed into a clutter of too many characters and ideas and time is not spared to construct Ben, and poor Susan is even more at a loss. Again, Dauberman leaps from one crucial scene to another, forgetting that in this kind of projects it is the mood that is primarily important. The most frustrating thing is that there are some \”lucky\” instances of this version of this production here and there through the dizzying cuts of this version, one of them is a particulary bad cut when Camp’s teacher goes to a bar looking for a father, only to discover a young man who is Mike (Spencer Treat Clark) and it dawns on him that things are actually quite disturbing. It’s a chilling scene from a movie that just doesn’t have enough impactful moments. It doesn’t have time.
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