This long-shelved new adaptation of the Stephen King basic fails to impress with an overabundance of CGI and foolish bounce scares.

PLOT: Author Ben Mears returns to his childhood house of Jerusalem’s Lot looking for inspiration for his subsequent guide solely to find his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.

REVIEW: I have to get it proper out of the means that I’m not the greatest fan of the authentic 1979 Tobe Hooper model of Salem’s Lot. The story is attention-grabbing however I discover it to be a 3-hour slog with about quarter-hour of cool moments. So I used to be ecstatic to see it lastly get the remake therapy. Or quite, I used to be glad to see the guide tailored one other time, to attempt to get it proper (they tried once more in 2004 with one other so-so miniseries). This would have been the first big-screen adaptation of the novel, nevertheless it was delayed for years, with Warner Bros ultimately cancelling its theatrical launch in favour of streaming launch on Max.

For those that have by no means learn the guide or seen both prior adaptation, Salem’s Lot follows Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) as he returns to his hometown. Hoping to seek out inspiration for his subsequent guide, he finds his arrival coincides with that of a darkish drive descending upon the city: an historic vampire intent on taking on Jerusalem’s Lot. As increasingly townsfolk are transformed, it turns into a ticking time bomb. But Ben’s isn’t the solely story we comply with, as we get an IT-like juvenile plotline with Jordan Preston Carter’s Mark Petrie. Mark has a knowledge past his years high quality to him, and he’s strong in the position even when the character does typically really feel like he’s perhaps a little bit too answerable for conditions for his age (therefore the similarities to IT – with the director Gary Dauberman having famously written that two-part movie).

After a stellar efficiency earlier this yr in Skincare, Pullman continues to be nice in no matter he does and he anchors the film. His romance with Makenzie Leigh‘s Susan hits the right level of smitten. I was very excited to see Bill Camp get such a featured role as he’s at all times been so underrated. The different performing is a little bit stiff all through, with some stilted performances amongst some folks having enjoyable with it. Young Nicholas Crovetti appeared to relish attending to play a foul man and it was entertaining. King-regular, William Sadler seems as a police officer nevertheless it’s a fairly unrewarding position. Alfre Woodard feels extra like she’s checking off a field versus contributing to the narrative.

Some of the scares have potential, with some actually cool buildup moments however practically each single one ends on a lame bounce scare. And it’s a kind of bounce scares the place the scene simply instantly ends. Which means there’s no satisfying payoff to any of those tense moments. It sucks as a result of I used to be actually having fun with the simplicity of the story. The CGI generally is a bit distracting, with enhancements on practically all of the horror components. Then there’s Kurt Barlow, the head vampire, whose look appears like a Halloween masks of the basic Nosferatu-like being. He’s typically overlit and the cinematography highlights the very rubbery-looking masks. It’s an enormous disappointment.

And whereas there’s potential with the romance between Susan and Ben, it finally falls flat in the finish. As quickly because it begins to blossom, the movie switches gears and turns into IT switching over to the B-plot. Every character feels shortchanged and there’s not a very good steadiness in the shuffling of all the storylines. There’s simply not sufficient time to dig into any dramatic components, proving that perhaps a miniseries actually is the solely technique to sort out the materials. The modifications don’t essentially spoil the movie (the Drive-In Movie Theater sequence was nice) however the execution feels sloppy and uninspired.

Ultimately I used to be actually disenchanted with Salem’s Lot. There’s clearly a motive that this film was shelved for years. I hoped they’d lastly be capable of crack the code in relation to adapting this novel. But it nonetheless simply hasn’t occurred, and at this level, I’m afraid it by no means will. Apparently, a easy story a couple of vampire taking on a small city is simply an excessive amount of for a characteristic movie. Guess we’ll attempt once more in one other twenty years.

SALEM’S LOT IS EXCLUSIVELY PLAYING ON MAX STARTING ON OCTOBER 3RD, 2024.