Salem's Lot (2024) Spoiler Free
As the days get shorter, so too does the countdown to Halloween. What seemed so far away when retail stores first started putting out candy is now only nine days away. Every year at the end of September, I vow to squeeze as much āfall shitā as I can out of my favorite month. And almost every year, I get toward the end of October and realize, yet again, that I have failed. In an attempt to remedy this, I decided to watch some scary movies over my next couple of days off, and there is no shortage of options. Every streaming service has an abundance of choices, but this late in the game, I canāt afford not to be selective.
Last night, with the older girls in bed and our 18-month-old cuddled close, I decided to check out Salemās Lot on Max. Stephen Kingās landmark 1975 vampire novel is a perennial re-read favorite for many during spooky season. Itās hard to believe that next year will be the bookās 50th anniversary. I donāt have a ton of time to read these days, so I figured the movie would be a great compromise.
Acting ingeniously as a prologue filled with foreshadowing and complemented by a font that gave me Stranger Things vibes, the opening credits immediately build anticipation. Make sure you pay attentionāthe opening credits ingeniously act as a prologue filled with foreshadowing. They simply should not be missed.
The film comes out swinging, and the first ten minutes filled me with a wonderful sense of dread. The filming locations are on point and match well with the bookās version of āthe Lot.ā There is no shortage of beautiful and clever filming styles in this movie. The scene where Danny and Ralphie walk through the woods and the one where Danny steps outside his house in the fog are particularly well done. The movie did well with the gore and jump scares. There were a couple of times where I feel like they missed opportunities that could have upped the scare-factor, but all in all, they did pretty well. My mouth literally dropped open in the hospital scene. Unfortunately, the filmās grandest tragedy is that itās a movie. The fact that they didnāt turn this into a mini-series is a huge missed opportunity. A strong start turns into a rushed work of art. Itās good, yes, but it could have been much better if they had slowed it down and released it in episodes. They cast the characters well, nailed the setting, and created truly creepy vampires. The rush of it all kept this film from being an all-time great, but itās still a must-watch that I think youāll enjoy!
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