Salem’s Lot (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Salem’s Lot (1979) – T. Hooper

I guess I stayed away from this two-part TV movie (3 hours in total) all these years for a couple of reasons: 1) the track-record for Stephen King adaptations is pretty bad (is The Shining the only exception?); 2) David “Hutch” Soul isn’t exactly an Oscar winner; 3) did I say TV movie? (this was a different thing in 1979!).  But, well, to be honest, after a pretty shaky start (Fred Willard and Julie Cobb are having an affair and husband George Dzundza plots to catch them), the movie did start to grow on me (notwithstanding the fact that the last time I saw Geoffrey Lewis, he was having a bare-knuckled fistfight with Clint Eastwood and an orangutan).  The bottom line here is that the vampires are actually pretty spooky looking (and acting) – they gave me the creeps.  (Credit may go to director Tobe (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Hooper). That’s what we came for – the horror story, modelled closely on Dracula, but taking place in a small town in Maine. This time Barlow doesn’t mess around – there’s no seducing of anyone, just straight for the kill and the pyramid scheme of proliferating bloodsuckers.  Brooding David Soul is there to record the clues but we all know what’s happening here. There’s also an assortment of old and classic character actors given another chance on the small screen, from James Mason (North by Northwest, Lolita, Odd Man Out), the Renfield who paves the way for Barlow’s entry to the town, to Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon, Rosemary’s Baby), Marie Windsor (The Killing, The Narrow Margin) and Lew Ayres (All Quiet on the Western Front, Advise and Consent) as townsfolk who help Soul or get in his way.  (Come to think of it, Cook Jr and Windsor also played a married couple in The Killing – but they are divorced here which wouldn’t be surprising given their relationship in that heist film).   And just when the comfort food of vampire lore is going down pretty easy, well into the third hour, there’s a distinct shift and things really don’t end up where you expect them to.  It’s darker, weirder, more post-apocalyptic.  I guess readers of the book would have known what to expect but I didn’t and that made all the difference.