Salem's Lot (15)

Author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home in Jerusalem's Lot, Maine - population under 2,000, and dwindling - to research his next novel and face ghosts of the past almost 20 years after the loss of both parents in a car accident. Ben's arrival coincides with the disappearance of little Ralphie Glick. The boy is snatched after dark by RT Straker, the human familiar of ancient vampire Kurt Barlow, who is secretly entombed in the basement of hilltop Marsten House.

LondonNet Film Review

Salem’s Lot (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Stephen King’s 1975 vampire novel ’Salem’s Lot has twice taken flight on TV: in 1979 with David Soul as emotionally traumatised novelist Ben Mears, who wages war against an infestation of bloodsuckers in his sleepy hometown, and again in 2004 with Rob Lowe as the reluctant hero. Gary Dauberman, writer-director of Annabelle Comes Home, breathes hot air but, alas, no new life into a suspense-free film version, which almost suffocates on its reverence to the source text. ’Salem’s Not A Lot would be a more fitting title for Dauberman’s disjointed and scattershot picture, which feels stuffy and old-fashioned in its pedestrian execution…

Both small screen incarnations were creepier although Dauberman does achieve one moment of disquiet, affording us a tantalising first glimpse of the master vampire through a tear in a sack containing a whimpering prepubescent sacrifice. The terrified boy’s breathing accelerates as a gnarled figure descends a staircase and closes in on the sack, culminating in an exuberant arc of freshly jettisoned blood on to furnishings. Vampires are exceedingly messy eaters. Character development and a romantic subplot are dangerously malnourished to the point of desiccation and teenage actor Jordan Preston Carter outperforms more established co-stars, investing his role with sufficient emotional intensity to compel us to care about his wellbeing when the sun sets.

Author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returns to his childhood home in Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine – population under 2,000, and dwindling – to research his next novel and face ghosts of the past almost 20 years after the loss of both parents in a car accident. He secures a room at a boarding house run by the imperious Eva Miller (Marilyn Busch) and sparks romance with college graduate Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), who is working hard to obtain her real estate licence so she can head back to Boston.

Ben’s arrival coincides with the disappearance of little Ralphie Glick (Cade Woodward), who is snatched after dark by RT Straker (Pilou Asbaek), the human familiar of ancient vampire Kurt Barlow (Alexander Ward), who is secretly entombed in the basement of hilltop Marsten House. Ralphie’s horror-obsessed classmate Mark Petrie (Carter) is one of the first residents to deduce an infestation of fanged fiends along with his elementary school teacher, Matt Burke (Bill Camp). They join forces with Ben, Susan, Dr Cody (Alfre Woodard) and local priest Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey) to cleanse Jerusalem’s Lot before the community is transformed into bloodsucking predators and infects neighbouring towns.

’Salem’s Lot is a lacklustre rendering of King’s tome, which unfolds in fits and (bloodless) spurts. Dauberman’s script draws heavy-handed parallels between on-screen predators and modern-day figures who are sucking small-town America dry. Placid performances suggest cast may have been hypnotised by a vampire before filming began.

– Kim Hu