Sam Panico Originally airing on November 17 and 24, 1979, Salem's Lot is considered one of the best Stephen King adaptions and some of Tobe Hooper's finest directorial work.We open in Guatemala, where Ben Mears (David Soul, TV's Starsky and Hutch) and Mark Petrie (Lance Kerwin, Enemy Mine) are filling bottle after bottle with holy water until one glows. Whatever they're chasing - or running from - has found them.After that open, we go back in time two years, to when Ben moves back to Salem's Lot, Maine. He's come back to his hometown to write about the Marsten House, an old haunted house. He pushes his luck even further, learning nothing from fellow writer Roger Cobb in House, and tries to rent it. However, Richard Straker (the superb James Mason), a stranger in town, has already bought it for his business partner Kurt Barlow.Instead, Ben moves into Eva Miller's boarding house. Soon, he's friends with Dr. Bill Norton (Ed Flanders, the TV movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden and TV's St. Elsewhere), romantically involved with Bill's daughter Susan (Bonnie Bedelia, Die Hard, Needful Things) and reconnecting with his old teacher, Jason Burke (Lew Ayers, Battle for the Planet of the Apes).Soon, Ben remembers a traumatic childhood encounter within the Marsten House and comes up with the theory that the house casts a shadow over all of Salem's Lot. It gets worse when a crate shows up to the house and people begin to die. Both Ben and Straker are suspects, but it's really Barlow (Reggie Nalder, Mark of the Devil, Bird with the Crystal Plumage). He's a vampire that wants to take over the whole town, starting with local boy Ralphie Glick and realtor Larry Crockett (Fred Willard in a rare non-comedic role and I haven't even gotten to the scene where he has to put a shotgun in his own mouth!).That's when this movie really gets frightening. The scene where Ralphie floats outside his brother Danny's (Brad Savage, Red Dawn) window is harrowing. And when Danny dies, he comes back to kill gravedigger Mike Ryerson (Geoffrey Lewis, Night of the Comet) and goes after Mark Petrie, who we saw in the opening. Luckily, Mark is a horror movie fan and he uses a cross to chase away the young bloodsucker. The way the vampires fly in this movie is really strange looking and was achieved by floating them off boom cranes instead of wires, then playing that footage backward to for an otherworldly effect.The town is quickly taken over by vampires, with Ben, Burke and Dr. Norton all trying to stop it. Even Ralph and Danny's dead mother Marjorie (Clarrisa Kaye, who as, at the time, the wife of James Mason) rises from the dead to try and kill everyone but is stopped with a cross. Mark's parents are killed by Barlow, but a priest helps him escape. And Burke has a heart attack after Mike Ryerson comes back to drink his blood.Seeking revenge, Mark breaks into the Marsten House. Susan comes to help him, but they are both taken hostage. Mears and Dr. Norton attempt to save them, but Straker kills the doctor by impaling him on antlers. Ben shoots the vampire's thrall and then he and Mark stake Barlow. They set the house on fire, driving all of the vampires from their hiding places and purifying the town. However, Susan is nowhere to be found.That's when we get back to the opening, as the rest of Salem's Lot's vampires are still chasing them. Ben finds Susan in his bed, ready to kill him. Instead of kissing her, he impales her with a stake and our heroes go back on the run - a journey that would take them to a planned NBC series that was to be produced by Richard Korbitz and written by Robert Bloch.While this movie is three hours and seven minutes long, it's an attempt to capture 400 pages of King's prose (and this is one of his shorter novels). Paul Monash, who produced Carrie and wrote for TV's Peyton Place was picked to work the novel into a filmable screenplay. One of the most noticeable tweaks is that Barlow is a cultured, well-spoken man in the novel and a Nosferatu-like bestial killer in the movie.Originally, George Romero was to direct this when it was to be a theatrical movie. He didn't feel that he could work within the constraints of television censorship. However, Tobe Hooper really succeeded with this effort, despite much of the book's violence being trimmed. That said, there is a European theatrical version that contains a longer cut of Cully threatening Larry with the shotgun. It was released in Spain as Phantasma II, a supposed sequel to Phantasm!This is not just one of my favorite King adaptions, but one of my favorite movies. It's long running time flies by and there are so many iconic moments of fright that it holds up, nearly four decades after it was filmed.

marieltrokan Tobe Hooper's very memorable, very eerie and frightening adaptation Salem's Lot is a representation of a violent outrage that's an outward warmth. An external nature of gentleness is an actual nature of devastating hostility. A devastating hostility is a tranquility that's tranquil. A tranquil tranquility is a hate that's without reason. A hate that's without reason is being an external nature of gentleness.An external gentleness is a coldness that's internal. Internal is the soul, and the soul is the inexplicable. A hate that's without reason is being a hate that's without reason.A hate that's without reason, is a kindness that's logical. A kindness that's logical is a kindness that's logical. A repetition of kind logic can't be a kind logic - a kindness that's sane is forced to be unique. Logic is necessity. The necessity of kindness is dependent on uniqueness. The necessity of kindness is needlessness that's needless: the pointlessness of pointlessness is dependent on uniqueness.Pointless pointlessness is importance that has no reason. Uniqueness is the only thing that can create importance that has no reason. Inexplicable importance is the same as an unimportant explanation. Uniqueness is the only thing that can create an unimportant explanation. An explanation, is an exposure. In order for an exposure to be unimportant, a uniqueness is required. An exposure is a loss of mystery. A loss of mystery is a gain of identity. Uniqueness is the only thing that can create a gain of identity that's unimportant. A gain is a help. An identity is a distinction. A distinction that helps is a symmetry that's obstructive. In order for a destructive symmetry to be unimportant, a uniqueness is necessary. A destructive symmetry is a destruction of reality: uniqueness is the only thing that can permit a destruction of reality that's acceptable. Uniqueness isn't the destruction of reality. Uniqueness is the maintenance of reality - the maintenance of reality is the only thing that can permit the destruction of reality. Reality is destruction. The destruction of destruction can only be acceptable if given permission by the maintenance of destruction. The destruction of destruction is peace that has no reason: the maintenance of peace that has no reason needs the permission of the peace of destruction. The peace of destruction is peace that has reason - corrupt peace. Pure peace needs the permission of corrupt peace in order for pure peace to overrule corrupt peace. If corrupt peace doesn't let pure peace destroy corrupt peace, pure peace won't have the ability to live. Pure peace needs to live, but, it hasn't the corrupt heart to destroy another force without the permission of the other force. The 1979 adaptation, Salem's Lot, is a very beautiful, very peaceful and very memorable allegory about a corrupt peace (the vampire Barlow) having the decency and having the heart to sacrifice itself for the benefit of humanity

CinemaClown One of the first screen adaptations of a Stephen King's novel, Salem's Lot is a spooky, suspenseful & sinister piece of work from the mind behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and finds him making brilliant use of the foreboding atmosphere & ominous setting to create a sense of uneasiness and although the story takes a while to find its footing, it's a thrilling ride once that happens.The story of Salem's Lot follows a writer who returns to his titular hometown after years to pen a novel about an old, dilapidated manor which he believes to be haunted. But soon after his arrival, people begin disappearing or dying under strange circumstances, only to reanimate as vampires. As the sickness spreads at an alarming rate, he enlists the help of few locals to save the town.Directed by Tobe Hooper, this miniseries appears to be heading nowhere at first, for it indulges in characters & subplots that it could've done without as they only slow down the narrative. However, once the board is set, it doesn't take long for a menacing quality to permeate its images and from that point onwards, Salem's Lot remains tense & gripping until the end.The teleplay could've used a bit more refinement as the characters aren't interesting enough to be worthy of any emotional investment and the plot needed a trim or two every now n then. The horror elements are expertly executed by the director, and the film's excellent production design, stellar make-up effects, eerie ambiance & gloomy score further magnifies its grim aura & sinister tone.Made for TV audience, the violence & gore is kept to minimum, and mostly takes place off-screen but that doesn't diminish its scare factor by much as the story relies on its environment to deliver the chills. Performances are mediocre as best as none of the characters leave a lasting impression while most of its creative choices, inspired from earlier works of horror, are effectively utilised.On an overall scale, Salem's Lot commences on a drowsy note but becomes alive once the demon steps into the town. Its 3 hours runtime is felt on several occasions, especially in the beginning but things do get better as plot progresses. To sum it up, this miniseries may appear somewhat dated today but it still has some unexpected shocks & surprises in store for newcomers, and is definitely worth a shot at least once.

gavin6942 Vampires are invading a small New England town. It is up to a novelist and a young horror fan to save it.Producer Richard Koblitz said, "We went back to the old German Nosferatu concept where he is the essence of evil, and not anything romantic or smarmy, or, you know, the rouge-cheeked, widow-peaked Dracula. I wanted nothing suave or sexual, because I just didn't think it'd work." "Salem's Lot" had a significant impact on the vampire genre, as it inspired horror films such as "Fright Night" (1985) and the scenes of vampire boys floating outside windows would be referenced in "The Lost Boys" (1987). Not to mention the antler impalement which was in both "Lost Boys" and later in "Hannibal".Sadly ,the film seems to be hard to come by. Despite being a modern classic, my library system did not have it, so I had to purchase the DVD for $15. And, frankly, that is way too much for a DVD with no special features -- not even a menu! This movie is in desperate need of a blu-ray upgrade.