'SALEM'S LOT (2004 - HORROR / VAMPIRE FLICK) ***1/2 out of ***** OR 7 out of 10
(Smalltown America sucks - literally...)
CAST: Rob Lowe, Samantha Mathis, Andre Braugher, Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, Dan Byrd, Robert Mammone, James Cromwell, Steven Vidler, Julia Blake, Bree Desborough, Paul Ashcroft, Christopher Morris, Robert Grubb, Penny McNamee, Andre De Vanny, Zac Richmond, Rebecca Gibney, Todd MacDonald.
DIRECTOR: Mikael Salomon
IT'S LIKE THIS: There's something appealing about living in a perfect small town. It's easy to imagine that life there would be simple and less harrowing than fast-paced city life, and everyone is all-smiles and aw-shucks and everything is warm and welcoming. Where everyday is probably is as sweet as Apple Pie. I'm enough of an optimist to believe that such places do exist. You just have to look for them. However, I'm also enough of a realist to know that looking for them is probably exactly like looking for a Born-Again Christian on a porn movie set. In other words, good luck.
The setting of our next review is definitely not a perfect small town. Oh, sure... it may look like its Green Acres on the surface, but underneath it's more like Sodom & Gomorrah Lite. The place is in rural Maine and is called Jerusalem's Lot, or 'Salem's Lot for short, and let's just say that it perfectly epitomizes that saying "shiny on the outside, rotten on the inside." Because, folks, this place has more nasty vipers than your average episodes of THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL and GENERAL HOSPITAL combined.
First, we have morally-depraved sleazoids like Larry Crockett (Robert Grubb), a smarmy real estate broker who just might be a little too close to his slutty teenage daughter, Ruthie (Penny McNamee). Then, there's creepers like Floyd Tibbits, who stole his ex-girlfriend's email password and secretly reads her messages from her current suitors. There's also rich (for a small town, anyway) snobby bitches like Marjorie Glick (Rebecca Gibney) who looks down her nose on everyone simply because, well, she's rich for a small town. Hell, even the local priest, Father Callahan (James Cromwell), has got a drinking problem. Oh, and let's not forget the creepy new arrivals to 'Salem's Lot: the snake-like Richard Straker (Donald Sutherland) and his mysterious, elusive business partner, Kurt Barlow (Rutger Hauer), whom no one has seen. Straker keeps making excuses for him, but you just know something's up. And it most likely ain't pretty. And who can forget materialistic Dr. James Cody (Robert Mammone), who is fucking one of his married patients. Finally, there's n'er-do-well Mike Ryerson (Christopher Morris) whose biggest ambition in life seems to be centered on how much beer he can drink.
To be fair, there are some decent folks in 'Salem's Lot, too. There's our hero, Ben Mears (Rob Lowe), a Pulizer-winning writer who has returned to the town he grew up in to write a novel about the eerie Marsten House that overlooks the burg. Then, there's the gorgeous local barista who has a crush on him, Susan Norton (Samantha Mathis). And I should also mention that Susan is the ex-girlfriend that creeper Floyd Tibbits is spying on. We also have Matt Burke (Andre Braugher), a gay English teacher who was Ben's mentor in high school. There's also Mark Petrie (Dan Byrd), a smart-alecky kid from the wrong-side of town who becomes Ben's protege. And we shouldn't forget Sheriff Perkins (Steven Vidler), who watches over the town and its residents like a hawk.
The delicate balance of assholes and nice folk in this town is tipped towards the bad side when strange things start to happen. First, Marjorie's sons, Danny and Ralph (Andre De Vanny, Zac Richmond), are attacked and disappear. Then, Floyd Tibbits is attacked and kills himself later in a jail cell. After that, Mike is attacked and dies - and later comes back to put the moves on Matt (partay!). Matt, to his credit, is in to a completely different kind of sucking and turns him down.
And that's just the beginning - soon, the streets of 'Salem's Lot are becoming emptier and emptier as more and more people disappear. Gradually, Ben, James, Father Callahan, Susan, Mark, and Matt begin to realize that all the strange things started to happen right after Straker and Barlow moved into town - and right into the Marsten House, which has a terrible history.
Why did these two men choose that place specifically? What are Straker and Barlow up to there? What happens when some of the missing people turn up showing signs of "vampirism?" Has Count Dracula moved into town? Is it Barlow? Or Straker? And who else is going to disappear? Who will be left to stop the evil that is taking over 'Salem's Lot? Is it pretty much up to Ben and his pals?
Count on it. As we established before, this is not the kind of small town where people help each other...
BUT SERIOUSLY: My favorite Stephen King novel is "'Salem's Lot" because it's quite original. Many folks trumpet "The Shining" and it is a very good book, but it's also a little too reminiscent of Robert Marasco's "Burnt Offerings" which was published four years before in 1973. Both books were turned into films, with THE SHINING following BURNT OFFERINGS by about four years, just like their source novels.
Stanley Kubrick pretty much threw out much of King's novel and reimagined it. The result is stark, chilly, clinical, brilliant - and a very modern ghost story that doesn't depend on the old, hoary tropes. King reportedly hates Kubrick's version. However when he set out to produce his own faithful interpretation for TV, the result was hokey and laughable in certain parts. Which proved that Kubrick was right to diverge as much as he did from King's novel which, while very well-written, had already been somewhat done before in "Burnt Offerings." Bottom line: it's THE SHINING (movie) and not "The Shining" (book) that most people remember.
"'Salem's Lot" on the other hand, was quite original for its time in its depiction of vampirism spreading throughout a nondescript American town - until it consumes nearly all of it. The novel worked in elements of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and DRACULA, and is even better than "The Shining" because it is a more complex endeavor. It was adapted into a TV mini-series in 1979 starring David Soul, James Mason, and Bonnie Bedelia - and is one of the scariest shows ever to be shown on network TV. I still remember being petrified by it as a kid.
In 2004, we got another mini-series based on King's novel - and it's pretty decent. Rob Lowe, as Ben Mears, heads a solid cast and seems to match the book's description of the character better than David Soul did. Compared to Soul, though, Lowe's interpretation of Ben is a little too laid-back and not as intense - which kind of lessens the urgency of the story. Still, he's fine, just as everyone else in the ensemble around him.
Nevertheless, it can't be denied that 'SALEM'S LOT 2004, while being a solid mini-series, lags behind 'SALEM'S LOT 1979 in terms of sinister atmosphere and sheer scares. As we've talked about many times before, Thrillers and Horror Films are only as strong as their villains. While Rutger Hauer gives Barlow a silken menace in this version, he's nowhere near as scary as Reggie Nader's truly frightening's approach. A lot of that has to do with how the character is presented: in the 2004 version, Barlow is a very attractive man; in the 1979 version he looks like a horrifying ghoul - and that makes a huge difference.
Still, 'SALEM'S LOT 2004 does a nice job of showing that the town was already rotting even before the vampirism began to spread, which it does just a tad better than the 1979 version. So, while it may not be as scary as its predecessor, this version at least adds a little more subtext. In the end, both are worth your time.
By the way, if you are interested in watching 'SALEM'S LOT 1979, make sure you choose the 183 minute version - in other words, the full mini-series. Do not choose the 112 minute theatrical version because so much is cut out that it weakens the story. The longer, complete version, though, is the stuff nightmare are made of. Be warned.
