There are good Stephen King adaptations, there are bad Stephen King adaptations, and there are — even in this our ongoing King movie Renaissance — a whole lot of adaptations in between. The new “Salem’s Lot” movie adaptation has had a ton of potential from the jump, both because one of the author’s scariest books is decades overdue for an on-screen update, and because of the early footage the /Film team saw at CinemaCon back in 2022 made an epic first impression.
And then a curious thing happened: the film never came out. Initially set to open on September 9, 2022, “Salem’s Lot” got pushed to April 21, 2023, and then it got removed from the release date calendar altogether. This happened at a time when studio Warner Bros. was going through some changes, and outright shelving movies like “Batgirl.” There was a fear that Warner Bros. might never release “Salem’s Lot,” something that really bugged author Stephen King. “Between you and me, Twitter, I’ve seen the new SALEM’S LOT and it’s quite good. Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the f***ing things,” the author wrote on Twitter aka X.
“I had the same questions everybody else did,” “Salem’s Lot” director Gary Dauberman told Vanity Fair. “This movie was made at a time when that transition to the new [Warner Bros.] ownership was happening, which was an interesting experience. At a certain point, it’s out of your control. People were asking me, ‘Where’s the movie? Where’s the movie?’ I wish I had an answer for them other than a shrug and ‘I don’t know.'”
Finally, there was a glimmer of hope. After years of delays, Warner Bros. announced in March of this year that “Salem’s Lot” would be heading to streaming service Max in October, just in time for Halloween season. Now, the upcoming film’s first trailer is here, and you can watch it above.
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The new movie stars “Top Gun: Maverick” actor Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, an author who returns to his hometown to find that it’s now subject to the whims of a vampire and his servant. The story also touches on a formative incident from Ben’s childhood that may or may not relate back to the town’s current woes. The new film will be set in 1975, the same year that King’s book was released. “Most of my stuff is set in the ’70s. I love the music. I do love the costumes. I just love the vibe of it,” director Gary Dauberman told Vanity Fair.
Dauberman, who also directed “Annabelle Comes Home,” is directing from a script he wrote. The filmmaker is no stranger to King; in addition to writing its sequel, he co-wrote the script for 2017’s “It,” which arguably kicked off the modern era of blockbuster adaptations of the horror master’s books.
“Salem’s Lot” was one of King’s earliest novels, and while a 1979 miniseries benefited from the direction of Tobe Hooper, the three-hour production doesn’t exactly stand the test of time. A 2004 miniseries update for TNT garnered mixed reviews. At CinemaCon back in 2022, Dauberman called “Salem’s Lot” “one of the crown jewels” of the King bibliography, and pointed out that it’s one of his only majorly popular stories that has never gotten a feature film adaptation.
I for one am all-in on “Salem’s Lot,” a movie that seems determined to make vampires terrifying again after years of pop culture’s (also great) sexy vampire fixation. The book seems to be the blueprint for some great, creative stories, from the second season of the King-verse show “Castle Rock” to Mike Flanagan’s dazzling Netflix series “Midnight Mass,” so it’s about time the source material gets its own blockbuster treatment. Plus, “Salem’s Lot” has a stellar supporting cast including acclaimed actress Alfre Woodard and Tony winner and career scene-stealer John Benjamin Hickey.
“Salem’s Lot” will hit Max on October 3, 2024.
