Salem’s Lot Review: Comfy Horror Throwback Bites Off More Than It Can Chew

After sitting completed on a shelf for two years, the new adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot is finally getting released by New Line and Warner Bros. as an original to the Max streaming service. This is the first time the beloved King novel is being adapted to the film medium — as opposed to the previous TV miniseries iterations — and it shows. This new take on ‘Salem’s Lot looks wonderful from start to finish, but struggles to deliver a cohesive or well-paced story from time to time.

Salem’s Lot tells the story of author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman), who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot to work on his new book. Around the same time he gets to town, a vampire (Alexander Ward) and his familiar (Pilou Asbæk) show up in the lot posing as antique furniture salesmen. When a young boy goes missing, and his brother tragically dies, things in the Lot start to change. Along with a beloved teacher (Bill Camp), his new girlfriend (Makenzie Leigh), the town doctor (Alfre Woodard), a drunken priest (John Benjamin Hickey), and a young boy (Jordan Preston Carter), Ben uncovers the truth about the new evil now operating in the shadows of his home and attempts to end it once and for all.

Of King’s most popular novels over the years, ‘Salem’s Lot might be one of the toughest to adapt into a feature film. There are a lot of relationships between these characters that have to build organically in order for the events of the third act of the story to have as much pull as they should, and it takes time for people to figure out what to do about vampires suddenly taking over their town. These elements are what gives writer/director Gary Dauberman the most trouble.

At just under two hours, Salem’s Lot is an easy watch, but the time doesn’t allow for those relationships or discoveries to take place organically. Instead of finding creative workarounds for issues like that, Salem’s Lot simply jumps from Point A to Point C or D, making you wonder how they got there. When teacher Matthew Burke is attacked by a vampire, why does he immediately run to the new-in-town writer he has only met once and not speak to anyone else about it? Well, because the plot needed both Burke and Ben to be involved, even if there’s not a good reason why. This is just a small (largely insignificant) example, but it also doesn’t give much of anything away.

The narrative inconsistency here doesn’t do the characters themselves any favors, either, and very few of them are able to rise above two-dimensional archetypes. That’s a bummer, not only because the characters in King’s book are so rich, but also because most of this cast really comes to play.

Pullman, in one of his first true leading roles, is outstanding as Ben Mears. He can bring the charm and terrified bewilderment in equal measure, reminding you he’s every bit as talented as his dad. Unsurprisingly, Bill Camp runs away with each and every scene he’s in. One of the best character actors of his generation, he wows you with absolute ease every time he’s on screen. Jordan Preston Carter, playing the young Mark Petrie, is the breakout of the film and he should have a great career ahead of him.

As frustrating as the narrative elements (and overall lack of scares) can be, I wouldn’t call Salem’s Lot a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. Where Dauberman fell short in scripting, plotting, or characterization, he makes up for in staging and shot selection. If judging by looks alone, Salem’s Lot is one of the better King adaptations we’ve seen. It definitely looks more like the IT films than the beloved Salem’s Lot miniseries.

There’s also a bit of a ’90s/2000s throwback to the structure of Salem’s Lot that I really enjoyed, especially in the first act. Some quick scare scenes that jump cut to softer sequences, meet-cute character introductions, and a few cheesy-but-funny one-liners give Salem’s Lot a feel we don’t experience much anymore. It feels almost cozy, in a way, like many comfort horror films from that era do.

There are certainly better Stephen King movies out there to watch, and Salem’s Lot isn’t going to stick around in your brain for a long time after you watch it, but it’s definitely not a film bad enough to warrant a two-year shelving and an unceremonious streaming release. For all of its flaws, of which there are several, Salem’s Lot still makes for an enjoyable Halloween season watch.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Salem’s Lot hits Max on October 3rd.