First review of TV's Salem's Lot

[Bluntchop]

SALEM’S LOT returns to television this summer on TNT, over 20 years after Tobe Hooper’s spooky 1979 miniseries. Stephen King fans might feel some initial concern over this updated version, but rest assured that director Mikael Salomon (who previously helmed the Dean Koontz SOLE SURVIVOR miniseries) and teleplay writer Peter (THE CRAFT) Filardi have stayed true to the spirit of the novel while adding a few fresh twists. They take the vampires out of the realm of Gothic literature (or even Hooper’s snaggletoothed Nosferatu) and into the everyday.

These vampires don’t wear the traditional capes or pancake makeup of traditional genre films. Instead, there’s a sense of rural paranoia as they blend into the community, which feels like the New England towns of author Russell (THE SWEET HEREAFTER) Banks. Like King’s novels, this SALEM’S LOT takes its time before diving into the horror. The town and its residents are presented in naturalistic detail, and the half-dozen main characters are played with an easy, low-key subtlety by a terrific cast, including James Cromwell, Andre Braugher and Samantha Mathis (though Donald Sutherland offers strong contrast as the more offbeat, sinister antiques dealer Mr. Straker).

The flavor of King’s novel is preserved through some of novelist Ben Mears’ voiceovers describing a traumatic childhood incident. With his long black hair, clipped New England accent and penchant for blue-collar storytelling, Ben (played by self-professed King fan Rob Lowe of THE STAND) looks an awful lot like King himself.

The creatures, once exposed, throw off their human visages and are seen lightning-quick, with freaky limb-twisting body movements and spider-walks along the walls. Rutger Hauer’s head vampire Barlow is played as initially corpulent, cold-eyed and banal, looking like an ordinary (if chilling) figure and gradually revealed as a brute-strong force of nature.

Fans of King’s more visceral shock horrors will delight at his assault on Mark Petrie’s parents and his mortifying attack on the weak-willed Father Callahan (James Cromwell). The movie also includes the memorable EC Comics-esque bit where the mean school bus driver gets his grisly comeuppance from the reformed student body.

SALEM’S LOT spends most of its running time forging a mood of chilly, atmospheric dread, but when its vampires lurch out of the grave, it pushes the envelope for TV horror. Fans of the novel and of Hooper’s original will find a worthy and original reprise here. It’s the smartest and scariest TV adaptation of Stephen King since IT.

source: www.fangoria.com

Actually never seen any King TV series/stuff before but this one I might check out.

[Bordick]

I'll stick with the 70's flick with "Holly Genero"

[Abscynthe]

Sounds promising. I liked the book; we'll see how the miniseries pans out. His miniseries have always been touch-and-go with me; I liked The Stand and the newer version of The Shining, enjoyed It, hated The Tommyknockers, and never saw The Storm of the Century (although I have the screenplay that was converted to book form). I also saw the other one he did, Rose Red or whatever it was called, with Nancy Travis, about the house. That one was okay too.

[masterthes]

When's it on?