Yes, SALEM'S LOT is one of Stephen King's shorter novels, but why is the new movie adaption so damn rushed? It's as if the filmmakers decided to create a King horror adaption for the TikTok generation. Everything is glossed over, characters are barely introduced before the mayhem begins and none of the scares have any time to fester. It's a shame, because this latest adaption does have its high points.
First, let's just all admit that the original 1979 CBS miniseries directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Lifeforce) is the all-time best TV King adaption. Still scary as hell, its loaded with scenes that have haunted a generation of scary movie buffs. It's one of my favorites and I watch it again every couple years.
I don't even remember the 2004 TV miniseries with Rob Lowe. I probably considered it a travesty to even dare remake Hooper's vision and passed on it.
So the new version from MAX and Writer/Director Gary Dauberman, who wrote the two excellent "IT" King adaptions along with many "Conjuring" films, comes with a nice pedigree but also trepidation from me on why we need another remake.
I really enjoyed the main title visuals, but almost immediately, the two-hour movie format seems to be an ill fit. Nearly all the character set up is jettisoned in an effort to get to the first carnage as soon as possible.
We meet writer Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman from "Top Gun: Maverick", pretty dull here) returning to Jerusalem's Lot for the first time since his childhood. He wants to dive into his past and ....oh never mind, the film has NO time for details.
He arrives just as English gentleman Straker (Pilou Asbeak from "Overlord") opens a mysterious antique shop downtown and also moves into the Marsten House, that long abandoned, terrifying old mansion that seems to stare down over the town waiting for victims.
Unlike in the 1979 miniseries, in which the legendary James Mason played Straker with a brilliant mix of aloofness and predatory behavior, the antique shop barely comes into play.
The titles have just concluded when Straker's master, the hideously Vitamin D deprived Kurt Barlow takes his first victim. Director Dauberman takes the opposite approach of Spielberg with the shark in "Jaws" which you didn't even see until 45 minutes into the film. Chop chop, no time for waiting, show his hideous face and give away a huge scare in the first five minutes.
I just shook my head.
Mears and Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh) fall in love quickly (no time for courtship) and the bodies start dropping as Barlow's vampire bites spread the undead faster than VD at Woodstock.
As I mentioned, there are some very bright spots within the film.
Jordan Preston Carter (Shaft) is a find as Mark Petrie, the horror film buff watching his school mates drop like flies. When Danny Glick comes a floating and knocking on his second story bedroom window, he knows what to do.
While the 2024 version is no scarier than the original 1979 TV version, I do LOVE the reaction these vamps have to crosses. It's visually very cool and a blast to watch.
The 1975 small town setting is fun and well executed.
Bill Camp (The Outsider, Joker) is terrific as school teacher Matt Burke. He's a steady force in the community and one of the first townspeople to realize what's going on. As always, Camp is excellent and pulls you into the film.
The cinematography during the first child kidnapping in the woods is visually clever and reminded me of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" by Coppola. The music score by Nathan Barr (True Blood) & Lisbeth Scott is really strong too, it draws blood.
The treehouse scene with Mark is very well done.
I loved the entire drive-in sequence at the end of the film. It's going to be new territory for any fans of the book or previous miniseries, but its fast, funny and action packed.
But I pity anyone coming to this film without having read the novel or seen the previous miniseries.
The story has enough meat on its bones and interesting characters to fill two long movies, just as IT did several years ago.
Here, it just plays like SALEM'S LOT FOR DUMMIES, a rushed, cliff notes version of a classic horror tale from the master of the genre.
For all the blood spilled, it ends up being a too rushed, detail-lite, toothless remake that burns up in the sunlight just as fast as the undead at the double feature.
Sadly, this lot gets a C.
I keep seeing that there's a three hour version by Dauberman out there somewhere. Please MAX, release it. I bet its far superior than this attention deficit disorder edition.
Kommentare