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Salem's Lot
Standard artwork for Salem's Lot
Approx. run time	Original version 184 min. Edited film version 112 min.
Genre	Horror
Written by	Novel: Stephen King Teleplay: Paul Monash
Directed by	Tobe Hooper
Produced by	Richard Kobritz
Starring	David Soul James Mason Lance Kerwin Bonnie Bedelia
Editing by	Tom Pryor Carroll Sax
Music by	Harry Sukman
Budget	$4,000,000
Country	United States
Language	English
Original channel	CBS
Release date	17 November 1979 7th & 9th September 1981
Followed by	A Return to Salem's Lot

Salem's Lot is a 1979 horror television mini-series directed by Tobe Hooper. It was based on the 1975 novel by Stephen King, which was adapted by Paul Monash, and starred David Soul and James Mason (whose wife Clarissa Kaye also had a minor role).

The plot revolves around a small American town that slowly becomes infested with vampires. However, the mini-series is necessarily toned-down from its source material, removing (or merging) several characters and sub plots (including the social commentary present within the novel), and instead focuses primarily on visual scares, atmosphere and tension. The appearance of the lead vampire in the mini-series was inspired by the motion picture Nosferatu. As in that film, vampires are portrayed as monstrous and repulsive in keeping with legend and folklore, though in King's novel the character was described as more human looking.

The 1979 mini-series attracted a large viewing audience and received positive reviews from critics and has garnered a considerable cult following since it was first made.

Plot

Writer Ben Mears, a former resident of Salem's Lot, originally called Jerusalem's Lot, returns to the town of his childhood due to his fascination with the Marsten House, a sinister old mansion that overlooks the small town. Both interested in and fearful of the house, Mears attempts to rent it, but finds that another new arrival has beat him to the property; the mysterious Richard Straker, who opens an antique shop and reveals to the townsfolk that an even more mysterious silent partner, Kurt Barlow, is also set to move into the Marsten House. Mears during his visit, develops a romantic relationship with a local woman, Susan Norton, and befriends her father, Dr. Bill Norton. Mears also renews his old friendship with his former school teacher, Jason Burke, and reveals to him his view that the Marsten House is somehow inherently evil, and seemingly attracts evil people.

During the course of the mini-series, strange events begin to take place after a large crate is delivered to the Marsten House, which turns out to contain Barlow, an ancient master vampire who has come to the town after having sent his servant (Straker) to make way for his arrival. Various sub-plots are woven into this, including the story of an affair between the real estate agent Larry Crockett and his secretary. Straker cryptically informs Crockett who sold the property to him that he will be rewarded, and Crockett is later killed and vampirised by Barlow. Mears and Straker's arrival coincides with the disappearance of a young boy, Ralphie Glick, and the two become suspects by police Constable Gillespie. The Glick boy returns as a vampire to claim his brother, Danny, who rises from the dead and strikes first at Mike Ryerson and then a friend, Mark Petrie. However, Mark is familiar with the legends of vampires due to his interest in horror movies and the occult, and is able to resist Danny's hypnotic control.

Slowly, the vampires spread as Mears and Burke figures out what is happening to the town and attempt to do something to stop it. Burke, however, falls prey to a heart attack, following a visit from the vampirised Ryerson. Susan and Mark are both captured by Straker after they break into the Marsten house. Mears and Dr. Norton head there to destroy Barlow, but Norton is killed by Straker, who in turn is then killed by Ben Mears. Mark manages to escape from the house and he and Ben find Barlow in his coffin in the cellar, and finally destroy him by putting a stake through his heart. However, Susan is nowhere to be found. They then set fire to the Marsten house, destroying the other vampires that dwell in the cellar, then flee the town as the fire spreads - 'purifying' it of the evil that has engulfed it.

The mini-series ends where it opened; Mears and Petrie seen two years later at a mission in Central America. They are on the run from the surviving vampires. Fortunately, they know when the vampires are near when the holy water they keep with them begins to glow. Warned by this phenomenon as they refill their supplies of holy water, Mears and Petrie go back to their dwelling to pack their things. However, Mears finds Susan lying in his bed - she is now a vampire. As he leans down to embrace her, she prepares to bite him but Ben surprises her by driving a stake through her heart. Filled with grief, he and Petrie then leave, knowing that other vampires will still be on their trail.

Cast

Production

Development

The rights to the Salem's Lot novel were a hot topic within the industry for quite some time before the mini-series was made. Stephen King himself commented "It was a mess. Every director in Hollywood who's ever been involved with horror wanted to do it, but nobody could come up with a script". Larry Cohen wrote a draft of the script that proved unsatisfactory; producer Richard Kobritz would describe the script as being "really lousy" (Cohen would go on to write and direct the poorly received sequel-in-name-only, A Return to Salem's Lot), but the filmmakers claim that one element from Cohen's draft remained, namely the decision to turn Barlow from an aristocratic European into the monstrous, Nosferatu-like creature seen in the film. Cohen actually appealed to the Writer's Guild to receive screen credit, but they ruled against him. A screening of the now benchmark horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, resulted in Richard Kobritz selecting Tobe Hooper as director, who was thirty-six at the time and fresh off of making the troubled low-budget film Eaten Alive.

Filming

The Marsen House on on Pabiscuitti Hill; designer Mort Rabinowitz constructed a facade of the house around a smaller existing structure.

Filming took place in Ferndale, Northern California, and had a reported budget of $4 million. A full scale mock-up of the Marsten House was built for the film, costing an estimated $100,000. Another $70,000 was spent on the interior set. A makeup concept involving glowing contact lenses were developed by make-up artist Jack Young. According to Tobe Hooper, the make up on actor Reggie Nalder, who played the head vampire Barlow, was constantly falling off, and he couldn't keep the fake nails on and the fake teeth would fall out, and the contact lenses would go sideways. ^[1]

Music

The musical score for the mini-series was composed by Oscar-winning composer, Harry Sukman, who was nominated for an Emmy in 1980 for his work on Salem's Lot. It would be the composer's last project before he died in 1984.

Release

"Phantasma II" spanish film poster for Salem's Lot.

Salem's Lot originally broadcasted as a two-part mini-series, on CBS-TV, from November 17-24, 1979. It was then aired as a single three hour movie of the week (the film runs for four hours when aired with commercials). Salem's Lot was also re-edited to be more violent^{[citation needed]} and fast paced for a limited European theatrical release that ran for just under two hours. One instance that illustrates this is Dr. Norton's death at Straker's hands: the European version of this scene lingers on the doctor hanging on the animal horns, for a considerable number of seconds longer than the American mini-series. The 112 minute version also contains an altered scene of Cully Sawyer threatening Larry Crockett with a shotgun. Larry holds the shotgun barrel in his mouth, though in the mini-series he holds the barrel in front of his face. The "theatrical trailer" (included on the DVD) contains a scene that occurs after Jason calls Ben over in the middle of the night because he sensed an evil presence in the house. The trailer shows him holding a crucifix and saying "There's a dead man upstairs", although in the complete miniseries, this scene is omitted and cuts directly from Ben's speeding jeep to the two of them going upstairs to investigate.

Warner Bros. issued the 112-minute version for the first home video release entitled Salem's Lot, The Movie. They later released the full-length miniseries on VHS in 1996. The full-length miniseries was also released on DVD.

Reaction

Salem's Lot was nominated for three Emmy Awards in 1980; Best Graphic Design and Title Sequence, Best Make Up, and Best Music for a Limited Series.

Purists of King's novel were off-put by some of the wide deviations from the novel. The biggest complaint was heaped on the characterization of the villainous vampire Barlow. George A. Romero, who was originally attached to direct the film when it was initially being considered for a theatrical release, would later comment: "The biggest problem I had with it, was that the vampire wasn't really the lord. The vampire was an attack dog for James Mason". In the book Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide, Stephen King commented on the Nosferatu-like depiction of Barlow: "It was just a dreadful steal on the make-up. That was bad". Producer Richard Korbitz commented in Cinefantastique magazine vol. 9 #2 on the major change of the character:

Stephen King was pleased with Paul Monash's script: "His screenplay I like quite a lot. Monash has succeeded in combining the characters a lot, and it works". He also commented saying "I like the movie version (the 112-minute cut) better, it just seems tighter."

The famous scene with the vampire boy floating outside his brother's window, scratching on the glass to get in.

In 1979, NAL/Signet Books published a paperback tie-in of the novel which included "8 pages of blood-chilling photos". In 2003, the Salem's Lot mini-series was featured on the British television programme, 100 Greatest Scary Moments.

The mini-series became very influential, as it inspired the suburban vampire film Fright Night and the 1987 film The Lost Boys. It has also been a source of inspiration for the hit television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Salem's Lot was also spoofed in The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror IV installment Bart Simpson's Dracula: in this particular episode a vampiric Bart Simpson is seen floating at Lisa's window with a horde of other vampire children, similar to the scenes in Salem's Lot depicting the vampiric Ralphie and Danny Glick, respectively.

Related works

After the success of the mini-series, discussions took place surrounding a potential Salem's Lot network series, though this idea fell through rather quickly. In 1987, a sequel was made; A Return to Salem's Lot, although this is widely disregarded as it was not based on King's original source material and has virtually no link to the original 1979 miniseries.

In 2004, a second adaptation of King's novel was produced as another three-hour television mini-series, this time starring Rob Lowe and Rutger Hauer.

References

• Sample frames from cinematographer Jules Brenner

Further reading

• Jones, Stephen (2002). Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide. Billboard Books. ISBN 978-0-8230-7884-4. 

External links

• Salem's Lot at the Internet Movie Database