Now streaming on MAX (Formerly known as HBO/MAX), the 2024 adaptation of the Stephen King classic novel of Salem’s Lot stars Lewis Pullman, Mackenzie Leigh, and Jordan Preston and comes from the mind of Director Gary Dauberman (Anabelle Comes Home). Once slated for release in 2022, Warner Bros. pretty much shelved the film along with several other notable features during COVID and it seemed doomed to never see the light of day. But MAX announced earlier this year that it would finally come to streaming and the question remains- is it worth the wait?
Yes.
Setting the film in the same year as the novel, Dauberman manages to capture the soul of the story while not making it feel like a retread of prior adaptations. Ben Mears (Pullman) is a writer who returns to the small town of Jerusalem’s Lot. Around the same time new Antiques’ dealers Straker and Barlow come to the town and begin to spread the vampiric curse to the other residents. Stephen King’s novel went deep into the soul of a small town becoming insular and wasting away, the idyllic exterior hiding the rot within as the residents struggle with infidelity, addiction, and abuse. It’s no wonder that the story centrally revolves around its’ “outsiders” and how that rot threatens to consume them.
The film moves much more quickly than the original novel, however- we don’t dwell on the side characters or their fates. That is to say that while the film starts off being rather true to the King novel itself, it actually comes into it’s own when it starts to stray from the source and begins to tell it’s own tale. There is also a large degree of influence from the 1979 adaptation, specifically with the design of the vampire Barlow. The film is bloody, atmospheric, and delivers a good number of jolts and frights.
But it’s not entirely satisfying, either. While most of the performances are well done, including terrific turns from William Sadler as the town Constable and Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody- there are some performances that fall short. Specifically, Mackenzie Leigh as Susan seems a little forced. The pacing is often a little too quick, though much I feel was cut for the sake of time rather than allowing some moments to breathe. It seems to have been cut a little too much for comfort and the results fall only a little short.
Still, the film is a high recommend and I sincerely wish it could have gotten a theatrical release- the truth is that this film could have had a decent life at the cinema and probably seen some decent numbers if WB hadn’t decided to cash in on a bunch of tax write-offs during COVID and it’s own management shake-up.
7 out of 10
