SummaryA 2004 American two-part television miniseries which first ran on TNT. It is the second television version of Stephen King's 1975 vampire novel of the same name.
SummaryA 2004 American two-part television miniseries which first ran on TNT. It is the second television version of Stephen King's 1975 vampire novel of the same name.
Screenwriter Peter Filardi ("The Craft") and director Mikael Salomon (HBO's "Band of Brothers") have defied the odds, delivering a four-hour, two-night version of King's vampire-infestation parable that ranks with the best filming of his work. It has genuinely scary parts, which is rare enough in video- King, but it's also perfectly in tune with his mordant sense of humor. Wickedly funny lines are scattered throughout Filardi's script. [20 June 2004, p.11]
I was pleasantly surprised when the new two-part Salem's Lot, based on the Stephen King best-seller about a town of vampires, spooked me. And it did it the old-fashioned way, with genuine scares and classic horror elements. [18 June 2004, p.D17]
This Salem's Lot is a significant improvement on the undistinguished 1979 mini-series starring David Soul, and it ought to please the many fans of Mr. King's 1975 novel.
Salem's Lot is hardly bad. It's just that certain unpersuasive special effects, unruly performances and subplots undermine the best of intentions, a fate with which fans of King's oeuvre are no doubt familiar. [19 June 2004]
The new, two-part movie is definitely worse than the original. It's just not particularly scary. Which is a problem for what's supposed to be a horror film.
Terrible...The first five minutes of Salem's Lot are great. Well, four minutes. And then Lowe's voice-over kicks in, which essentially starts the poison drip. It's a lot of King-speak, which is annoying and so formulaic it ought to be patented (and might be). There's a line about "dull, mindless, moronic evil," which is pretty much a perfect synopsis of the movie.