SALEM’S LOT

(director/writer: Gary Dauberman; screenwriter: based on a Stephen King novel; cinematographer: Michael Burgess; editor: Luke Ciarrocchi; music: Nathan Barr, Lisbeth Scott; cast: Lewis Pullman (Ben Mears), Makenzie Leigh (Susan Norton), Alfre Woodard (Dr. Cody), Bill Camp (Matthew Burke), John Benjamin Hickey (Father Callahan), Jordan Preston Carter (Mark Petrie), Pilou Asbæk (RT Straker), Kurt Barlow (Ward); Runtime: 112; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Michael Clear, Roy Lee, James Wan, Mark Wolper; Warner Bros./New Line/Max; 2024)

“Competently made but listless.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Gary Dauberman (“Annabelle Comes Home”) is director-writer of this stylish but not too suspenseful vampire film based on a 1975 Stephen King novel. This is the third adaptation after two mini-series tries in 1979 and 2004. It’s competently made but listless.

Ben (Lewis Pullman, son of Bill) is an author who for inspiration and to learn more about his childhood returns to his Maine hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot he’d left many years ago. Once there, he begins a relationship with one of the locals, the real estate agent Susan (Makenzie Leigh).

There’s a mansion that looms over the town. An antique shop is run out of it by its new owner RT (Pilou Asbæk). He’s in the service of his master Ward (Keith Barlow).

Strangely, many residents in town are vanishing only to reappear as ravaging killers.

Ben, Susan, the local teacher Matthew (Bill Camp), Dr. Cody (Alfre Woodard) and Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey) ban together to try and stop the vampires.

The school kids fight back under the leadership of Mark (Jordan Preston Carter).

The scares come from the shiny eyes of the undead, and the glowing crucifixes used to stop them.

The acting is OK, but the story, lack of character development and visuals are not. It’s a forgettable B-film filled with stale horror pic scares.

REVIEWED ON 10/10/2024  GRADE: C+
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