545: Salem's Lot

[00:00:00] 251. Let's get to Salem's Lot, the new one, which is a Max original. It's directed by Gary Doberman, based on the novel by Stephen King. Stars Lewis Pullman, Mackenzie Lee, Jordan Preston Carter, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp.

[00:00:23] And the synopsis is, an author returns to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover that the townspeople are being attacked by a bloodthirsty vampire.

[00:00:38] I saw the original adaptation, the Toby Hooper one years ago. I also own the book. I haven't read it yet. I'm still working on other Stephen King books right now.

[00:00:55] The original, I like alright. But even though it goes more into the book and adapts it more faithfully, from what I understand, it still drags a lot.

[00:01:12] Watching this for the first time, I knew that the reviews were lukewarm. And as a whole, I think it's okay.

[00:01:22] One of the biggest problems by far, even not having read the book, the editing in this movie, not so much within a scene, more so keeping the narrative cohesive and whole, it feels very choppy.

[00:01:40] There are some scenes that suddenly end, and it feels like there's way more possibility for what should have been discussed and explored.

[00:01:50] The jumping of time to time within a day or from a certain location.

[00:01:59] Honestly, it seemed like I could see the scissors of where the studio came in and chopped it up.

[00:02:08] Or this was all the money that they had, and so they just had to do the best with it.

[00:02:12] And it is, I should say, it is written and directed by Gary Doberman, who wrote the, or co-wrote, the Annabelle trilogy, as well as The Nun and It and It Chapter 2.

[00:02:30] So he, for sure, has a lot of experience in horror, not so much with directing, but at least most of his career has been spent in this genre.

[00:02:41] So that rushed pacing, that rushed feeling, really brings the movie down, making it feel shallow, more like a TV movie.

[00:02:54] It almost makes sense why this one was put to streaming directly, rather than being released in theaters.

[00:03:01] It kind of felt like the pilot episode of a show, that this laid the groundwork for all the things that would be going on for the rest of the season.

[00:03:10] But then, no, this is it. That was the end of the story.

[00:03:16] In this adaptation, you learn little to nothing about anyone.

[00:03:21] Those relationships, like between the author and that girl, there's nothing there.

[00:03:28] Everybody else is very cookie-cutter, just there because they need a character, basically.

[00:03:36] And if you compare it to something like It, which it has many similarities that I'll get to, there's no comparison in that way.

[00:03:45] It, you immediately care and know those characters.

[00:03:49] There's way more complexity.

[00:03:52] And I'm glad that they decided to make that book into two films, rather than just one two-hour movie, like this one is.

[00:04:02] Anyways, though, not to trash on it too much, because it's not horrible.

[00:04:08] Some big picture things it does, along with comparing it to It.

[00:04:12] It has a lot of Stephen King classic-isms.

[00:04:17] It takes place in a small northern town where everybody knows everybody.

[00:04:23] There are dark secrets that people are trying to hide, but somehow everybody still knows about them.

[00:04:31] The main character is also a writer, a novelist.

[00:04:36] There's a young group of kids who we follow that are like the loser gang in It, who are bullied, and they have to take matters into their own hands.

[00:04:46] And sometimes they even act more like adults than the adults around them.

[00:04:52] Of course, there's a monster or a creature that wreaks havoc.

[00:04:57] It picks apart the town and causes paranoia and suspicion between everyone of who's involved or what might be actually going on.

[00:05:09] And all that stuff, I don't mind that it's there.

[00:05:11] It's just that if you know Stephen King, you're going to see a lot of things that you've seen before.

[00:05:19] One smaller issue, not that it's inherently bad, but Gary Doberman's involvement with the Conjuring films.

[00:05:29] There are moments, especially when dealing with the crosses that light up or the casting demons away.

[00:05:37] It gets a little too close to feeling more like a Conjuring movie than a Stephen King movie.

[00:05:47] Everything with the vampire, the design, very classical, but still looks very good in terms of the effects, the makeup.

[00:05:55] I don't know what was what, which is a compliment, I would say.

[00:05:58] Okay.

[00:05:59] There's just not nearly enough of him in it, considering I'd say a lot of people have been waiting decades for a new adaptation,

[00:06:08] and there's so little horror.

[00:06:13] The movie is shot very well.

[00:06:15] It looks great.

[00:06:17] The changing of the color palettes, like the look of the sky, there's a lot of gloomy blues and greens,

[00:06:24] but then it'll change to very vivid reds and oranges and yellows.

[00:06:30] Good score and good soundtrack.

[00:06:34] And actually, I do appreciate that there's not a lot of jump scares in this,

[00:06:40] which I was a little worried about, but it mostly relies on visual storytelling to get the scares.

[00:06:50] The scene when the boy who's been bitten appears at the other kid's window at night,

[00:06:56] and there's that fog rolling across the window,

[00:06:59] and the piercing yellow eyes poke through towards the end,

[00:07:05] when all the vampires break loose,

[00:07:09] and the main character, the author, is on the street,

[00:07:12] and he sees all of the vampires standing around him,

[00:07:16] like somewhere on the roof, somewhere on the street, on the sidewalks.

[00:07:21] When the vampire attacks the family in the home,

[00:07:25] and that's when you really get the first good look at him.

[00:07:28] Way too late in the movie, but it's an effective moment.

[00:07:33] The look of the vampire's house on the hill reminds me a lot of Beetlejuice.

[00:07:40] The boy crawling out of the coffin in the graveyard.

[00:07:49] One, not to debate the logic of this, obviously, considering the genre,

[00:07:56] but one weird moment was when Alfre Woodard, who's a great actor,

[00:08:01] when she gets bitten, and her life is saved by them injecting a rabies shot into her,

[00:08:08] and then suddenly she's okay.

[00:08:11] I was like, okay, seriously, I know we're dealing with vampires here,

[00:08:16] but I don't know if a rabies shot would necessarily be the trick to stop the infection.

[00:08:23] Her death, for one thing, is so sudden, but not at all affecting.

[00:08:29] I'm like, okay, she's dead.

[00:08:30] I guess we're moving on.

[00:08:33] Same thing with the priests.

[00:08:34] So as far as vampire movies go, it is watchable.

[00:08:41] It is consistently spooky.

[00:08:45] That one is a heavy three out of five.

[00:08:49] But this will never be a long time.

[00:08:49] I guess it is that Peter and Peter doesn't use it.

[00:08:49] If it isn't going to be a long time.

[00:08:50] I think that's it.

[00:08:50] You know what a real tough one might mean.