Salem's Lot

Wow, Zaslav and his crew really did it! Ruined one of King's best novels -- it might just be my favorite -- by turning it into a film with zero personality, no thrills at all and wooden characters. Last 20 minutes or so kind of try to redeem what we've just seen -- first hour feels atrociously rushed --, with some nice shots at the drive-in and shit, but then it's too late to save it. Maybe in 2044 someone will adapt it again, hopefully a third time as a limited series, please.

Makes all the same mistakes as its predecessors, but faster. Graphics are better, obvi, but at no point is there tension or fear (or surprise).

Kinda shit really. Feels terribly rushed and contrived when they make a plan and then are raising against the sunset multiple days in a row like they couldn't fathom to do their plans at noon

While the story obviously could have been fleshed out to match Kings 439 page novel, what we did get was a quickly paced cliffnotes version. That's not at all a slight on the film as I loved this take on Mark Petrie and Ben Mears. Could it have benefited from being longer? Sure, we could have felt more when certain characters are killed off. However this version tells the essentials of the story and doesn't slow down. I enjoyed that aspect of it.

For a movie, which is like 2 hours, it felt so rushed. Everything happened so fast; characters felt like they had barely any time to develop, some of the story felt like it went nowhere...

Not too bad, at least the beginning.

Stephen King adaptations have always been a mixed bag, and unfortunately, this latest attempt falls on the weaker end of the spectrum. A proper Salem's Lot adaptation needs more care. With a bigger budget, a well-rounded team of writers, and the breathing room of a mini-series format, it could finally do justice to King’s terrifying novel. Unfortunately, this version is yet another example of how not to adapt one of his works. The '79 adaptation at least managed to get a lot of things right.

This was a highly enjoyable version of the story and it would've gotten a higher rating if everything hadn't happened so damned fast.