Salem's Lot

This movie is based on the original Stephen King novel, which was then transformed into a film in 1979. Now the 21st century gets another re-imagining of the story for the television audience. You'll get to see this two-part miniseries when it airs on TNT Sunday June 20th, and Monday June 21st. Normally I don't review movies that originally air on TV or those that I first see on television, since they are usually edited or normally, in my opinion, aren't worth the effort. I decided to swing from the norm this time, since I was sent a nice press release along with a couple VHS screeners for review. The first half of part 1 is a little slow and drags a bit, but it's there to set up character development for a lot of the key townspeople, so it's understandable. Towards the end of the first part and most of the second part I found the most entertaining, especially when part 2 was coming to a close.

I've never read the book, so I can't say how much of this movie stays true to the original, but the story follows a writer (Rob Lowe) on his way back home to start a new book based around the town. In the midst of chatting it up with old friends and acquaintances, he discovers that the town is going through a slight change, and believes that it could be due in part of the antiques dealer's (Donald Sutherland) stay in the quiet town. As time goes on the supernatural visits many of the townspeople and a conclusion is made by a small handful that the town is becoming invested with vampires. The writer gets the aid of a few other townspeople to investigate a creepy old house where they believe lies the source of the vampirism that's spread all over the town.

I've honestly never seen the original 1979 movie in its entirety, but I have seen a lot of the more interesting key sequences, and most of the ending. One scene that I remember in the original that creeped me out as a kid still remains in this version, and that's the scene where a young kid gets a visit from his friend by a tapping from outside his window. One thing I really didn't like about this version is the fact that the vampires didn't have the cool, and creepy, glowing yellow eyes. This time 'round their eyes are somewhat of a glowing white that doesn't stand out as much. From what I've seen of the '79 version, I've concluded that it remains to be the scarier of the two, but this re-imagining does manage to have its cool creepy moments as well. The wall-crawling by lead vamp Rutger Hauer was somewhat creepy, and the wide mouths the vampires would have had their moments. The movie's lacking in blood until towards the end when the crew start staking them one by one.

Usually Stephen King has a small cameo role in the films that are made from his stories, but I couldn't spot him anywhere in this movie. Although, I did catch a lot of King references throughout the movie. Like one instance when someone calls for their dog "cujo", which I'm sure we all know is a King book, which was also made into a movie. This is Rutger Hauer's third role (I think) as a vampire, because he also plays one in Dracula 3: Legacy and also one in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. According to the quick Q&A Rutger had in the press release of the film, he likes to play vampire roles because "they are people just like actors who can change face, shape, form, tone, and dance".

At first I wasn't into this flick, but as time went on and more supernatural stuff was happening, I was diggin' it. I enjoyed part 2 the most and was very pleased by the climax. So which version is better? In terms of scares, the '79 version, but in terms of entertainment, this baby takes the cake. This is a good effort for a movie that'll originally air on TV and worth a watch in my opinion.

OVERALL

Slow at first, but picks up towards the end of the first part, and starts to really kick into high gear in part 2. Original is better for scares, but this version is good for entertainment. Worth a check.

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