Salem's Lot

Inhoud

Ben Mears, a successful writer who grew up in the (fictional) town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine (known to locals as Salem's Lot or The Lot), has returned home following the death of his wife. Ben plans to write a book about the Marsten House, an abandoned mansion that gave him nightmares after a traumatic (and possibly supernatural) childhood experience. Once in town he meets local high school teacher Matt Burke and strikes up a romantic relationship with Susan Norton, a young college graduate.
Mears discovers that the Marsten house has been bought by Mr. Straker and Mr. Barlow, a pair of businessmen who are also new to the town, although only Straker has yet been seen. Their arrival co-incides with the disappearance of a young boy, Ralphie Glick, and the suspicious death of his brother Danny. Over the course of the book, the town is slowly taken over by vampires, while Ben, Matt, Susan, and a few other residents of the Lot try to prevent this from happening. In the end Ben and young Mark Petrie succeed in neutralizing Straker and destroying the master vampire Barlow, but, lucky to escape with their lives, are forced to leave the town to the crop of newly-created vampires.
'Salem's Lot is a combination of psychological thriller and the classic horror genre, making references to Bram Stoker's Dracula at several points and sometimes replicating its storyline.
Cast and Crew:
* Stuart Milligan as Ben Mears
* Theresa Gallagher as Susan Norton
* Danny Cannaba as Mark Petrie
* Doug Bradley as Barlow
* Gavin Muir as Matt Burke
* Kerry Shale as Jimmy Cody
* Don Fellows as Parkins Gillespie
* Nigel Antony as Father Callahan
* George Parsons as Nolly Gardner
* Laura Lai King as June Petrie
* Vincent Marzello as Henry Petrie
* Dramatized by Gregory Evans
* Directed by Adrian Bean
* Music by Elizabeth Parker
Total running time: 3 hours 25 minutes 48 seconds.

Bespreking

A decent classic vampire yarn

When Ben Mears, a successful writer, returns to his hometown of Salem's Lot, he has on only one mission: to finally deal with the monster of his youth. As a teenager he entered the abandoned Marsten House on a dare and was confronted with the spirit of Hubert Marsten, a '30s gangster who committed suicide in that same house. By writing a novel about this doomed place, Ben hopes to finally get rid of the images that haunt his dreams. He plans to stay in the Marsten House, but is surprised to find that it has been sold. Unbeknownst to Ben the new owner has a strong link with the monster of his nightmares.

Not only is 'Salem's Lot an extensive tribute to Dracula, one of greatest classic horror novels ever written, it is on its own also a decently structured yarn that has all the aspects of a classic. But this part of the homage is at the same time also its weakest point. At no point does the story offer any significant surprise or twist. It is all set-up according to a format that was innovative in Bram Stoker's era, but has lost much of its potency in our modern times. As such, the reader is able to simply predict the denouement based upon the number of pages that follows. At the same time I am afraid that people that are unfamiliar with the original Dracula might miss quite some of the poignant tongue-in-cheek humour that King has added in abundance to the story. Nevertheless 'Salem's Lot has all the characteristics of an enjoyable vampire story.