Stephen King's Salem's Lot: What Is It About & What Are Previous Adaptations?
One of the author's best books has been adapted to the screen several times.
The rumor that Salem's Lot, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, will be released on Max instead of in theaters has been confirmed. The movie will be released on the platform later this year.
The movie will debut in October 2024, but there is no exact release date yet. Salem's Lot spent about two years on the shelf: in the summer of 2022, Warner Bros. postponed the premiere to April 21, 2023, and then news about it stopped coming at all. Some even thought that the movie had already been canceled.
In the end, however, the film was completed, and Stephen King himself had a chance to watch the adaptation – and was very pleased with it.
What is Salem's Lot About?
Writer Ben Mears arrives in the town of Salem's Lot to work on a new book and confront his childhood fears. Once, he dared to enter a dark mansion and encountered the ghost of a hanged man.
Many years later, unexplained things are happening in the town. With Ben's arrival in Salem's Lot, people began to disappear.
Inspired by the prose of Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker's Dracula, Salem's Lot is an example of early and, according to many critics, exemplary Stephen King. You can play King Bingo based on this novel: the main character is a writer, the setting is a small town in Maine, the house is cursed, and the plot revolves around mysterious murders.
Salem's Lot was transferred to the screen three times before.
Salem's Lot, 1979
Tobe Hooper's miniseries rarely finds a place among the best King adaptations. The project was in limbo for a long time–- the producers couldn't decide whether they wanted to make a feature-length movie or give the story to television.
Even after it aired on CBS, the editing never stopped, with the running time sometimes expanded, sometimes shrunk by nearly half. Despite the production dramas, Hooper did the almost impossible: he made a movie about vampires without blood.
Salem's Lot is only the second King adaptation, only Brian De Palma's Carrie was released earlier.
A Return to Salem's Lot, 1987
Larry Cohen is a master of commercial cinema who has proven himself in various genres, from western to horror. The director has made a name for himself, and his works include A Return to Salem's Lot.
In theory, this is a sequel to the 1979 series, but in reality it has almost nothing in common with the original. A Return to Salem's Lot is a B-movie that will definitely appeal to fans of this genre.
Salem's Lot, 2004
This adaptation may attract fans of the author because Stephen King himself is listed as one of the screenwriters of the mini-series, and because of the cast, which includes such names as Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer and James Cromwell.
This project is even less known than the 1979 one, but perhaps deserves even more attention for its acting and visuals.