2024’sSalem’s Lotmovie cuts characters from the original novel, confirming the reality of the adaptation. The original 1975Salem’s Lotis one ofStephen King’s best books, beloved as a classic of the horror genre for nearly five decades. Like many of his works, the vampire novel has been adapted multiple times, with previous attempts portraying the story as a miniseries, including a successful rendition from 1979 that remains one of the best adaptations of his work. The 2024 movie received significantly less praise.
Salem’s Lot Ending Explained: What Happens To Ben Mears & The Town
A new adaptation of Stephen King’s classic horror story, Salem’s Lot, is out, and there’s plenty of material to break down from the climactic ending.
The new rendition wasreleased on Max to poor critical reception, receiving a 48% score on Rotten Tomatoesand an even lower 41% audience rating. With classic films likeThe ShiningandThe Shawshank Redemptionsetting the bar for thebest Stephen King adaptations,Salem’s Lotis one of the least compelling renditions of the author’s work, and there are multiple reasons why. TheSalem’s Lotcastis rather compelling, offering an interesting new spin on iconic characters, but the biggest issue is likely the time constraint of the film medium.
Salem’s Lot’s Cut Book Characters Prove The Movie Would’ve Been Better As A TV Show
The Salem’s Lot Movie Doesn’t Have The Time For Its Ensemble
There are severaldifferences between theSalem’s Lotbook and the 2024 movie, including the omission of characters in varying levels of importance. For example,Hubie Marsten is a vital character from the town’s past whose horrible crimes are instrumental in establishing the importance of the Marsten house, Ben Mears' backstory, and the darkness beneath Jerusalem’s Lot that made it so appealing to a vampire. Another example is Bill, Susan’s father, who she claims in the movie has died before the events of the film. In the book, Bill importantly contrasts Susan’s mother by actually taking a liking to Ben.
in order to pace the events like a movie, the narrative is less free to meander between different characters and personalities, exploring the different corners of the town
The absence of these characters and the gaps in the story left behind speaks to a larger issue, which is thatSalem’s Lotis a narrative better suited for television. This isn’t necessarily about length, asItis a far longer book, but worked for the most part as movies. The problem with adaptingSalem’s Lotis that, to pace the events like a movie, the narrative is less free to meander between different characters and personalities, exploring the different corners of the town. Television has far more freedom to explore this aspect of the book.
1979’s Salem’s Lot Showed That The Story Needed More Than A Movie To Adapt The Book
The Salem’s Lot Miniseries Is Still The Best Adaptation
The 1979 version ofSalem’s Lotis still widely considered to be the best, and it being a television miniseries is the primary reason why. It may not have the modern effects and flashy CGI vampire of the 2024 film, butthe classic miniseries hits all the essential narrative beats from the book. In total, 1979’sSalem’s Lotcomes in at over three hours of runtime when combining the two miniseries episodes, making it an epic-length movie when added together. That’s an extra hour and some change to explore the town, adding to the story’s emotional weight.
A lot of the issue with 2024’sSalem’s Lotis that the first hour constructs a seriously compelling narrative with an interesting ensemble, telling a story that’s faithful to the novel despite its changes. But then the film’s second half drops a significant portion of these storylines, killing off underdeveloped characters at a rapid pace as it shifts gears to underwhelming, standard monster movie action. There’s some charm to a group of allies running around a small ’70s town fighting vampires, but it’s not whatSalem’s Lotis about.
How Salem’s Lot’s Movie Format Misses A Major Point Of Stephen King’s Book
Salem’s Lot Is A Story About A Town
Possibly the most important aspect ofSalem’s Lotis that it’s not a narrative that’s driven by character study or plot but rather by the study of the town as a collective whole.Jerusalem’s Lot isn’t just the setting; it’s the subject of King’s narrative, which explores the downfall of small-town America at the hands of corruption in the back half of the 20th century. The novel explores thematic material similar to movies likeThe Last Picture Show, which similarly explores the decline in classic small-town life.
Mike Flanagan’s Underrated $72M Horror From 5 Years Ago Subtly Follows Up Stephen King’s New Streaming Hit Movie
Max’s new adaptation of Salem’s Lot has a subtle connection to the villains of Mike Flanagan’s underrated Stephen King horror movie from 2019.
With that in mind, examining the lives of different townsfolk and really taking in the entirety of Jerusalem’s Lot is crucial to King’s message.Salem’s Lotisn’t simply a scary vampire story; it’s an examination of the mirage of the small-town world, demonstrating how continuously ignoring small acts of evil opens the path to great evil, with Kurt Barlow representing an existential threat. At the end of theSalem’s Lotmovie, the entire town has been destroyed, but the film doesn’t do the legwork to show why it matters.
Salem’s Lot
Salem’s Lot is a 2024 remake of the movie of the same name released in 1979. The latest adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 novel stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, and Bill Camp, with Gary Dauberman writing and directing the Max original film. The plot revolves around a writer who discovers a vampire in his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot upon returning home for inspiration.
