Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot,” a story of vampires invading a small New England city, is beloved by horror followers. A mash-up of “Dracula” and “Peyton Place,” it was the second novel King revealed, and when individuals look again on the grasp of horror’s bibliography, they usually maintain “Salem’s Lot” in excessive regard (I included it amongst my round-up of the ten Greatest Stephen King novels proper right here). King’s novel was tailored as a TV miniseries twice: as soon as in 1979, helmed by “The Texas Chain Noticed Bloodbath” mastermind Tobe Hooper, and once more in 2004 on TNT. The Hooper model is a favourite of style followers, whereas most individuals dislike the TNT adaptation (though I will be courageous and admit I feel it isn’t so dangerous!).
After solely showing in TV kind for thus a few years, a function movie adaptation of “Salem’s Lot” was lastly introduced in 2019, with “Annabelle Comes Dwelling” filmmaker Gary Dauberman tasked to jot down and direct the film. When the mission was introduced, Stephen King motion pictures have been experiencing a little bit of a renaissance, due to the field workplace success of 2017’s “It” (a King movie Dauberman co-wrote). Sadly, the movie had a tough highway to the display screen, and by no means made it to theaters. After initially being set for theatrical launch in 2022, Warner Bros. pushed the movie to 2023, then eliminated it from their launch calendar completely. Then, earlier this yr, WB revealed the film would skip theaters completely and go on to Max. Now, the movie model of “Salem’s Lot” is lastly streaming on Max, and regardless of not-so-great evaluations, it is proving to be a success for the streaming service.
Salem’s Lot is a streaming hit
I am a giant Stephen King nerd, so I used to be aggravated when Warner Bros. stored delaying the film, and I used to be excited to lastly see it. Sadly, the movie itself left me fairly chilly. As I wrote in my overview, the movie feels rushed and lacks the character growth that is key to creating a Stephen King story work. Dauberman has admitted in interviews that the difference had a a lot longer unique reduce, so I am positive that has one thing to do with the rushed nature of the ultimate movie.
Whereas evaluations for “Salem’s Lot” won’t be nice, viewers are nonetheless checking the film out. In line with Flix Patrol, a web site that displays streaming information, “Salem’s Lot” is the quantity 2 hottest film on HBO in the USA (coming in at number one is the thriller “Caddo Lake”). This begs the query: if “Salem’s Lot” is a success on Max, wouldn’t it have been a success in theaters, too? That is actually arduous to say. Whereas I’m all for the theatrical expertise, individuals as of late are extra inclined to look at one thing at residence than they’re to enterprise out to a movie show. Watching “Salem’s Lot” from the consolation of you sofa is loads simpler (and cheaper) than heading to the multiplex. So simply because “Salem’s Lot” is doing effectively on streaming doesn’t suggest it could pop off the identical manner on the massive display screen.