Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" on Max

[Lootpack]

Don’t get me wrong, I just finished it, and I wouldn’t call it was bad.

It told the story, plus or minus some parts. It wasn’t as hopeless, dark, or cold as the imagery from the novel.

I felt a slight twinge of disappointment sometimes, but I recognize that’s the novel Stan in me. If I really need the same feeling I got from the novel I can just go watch “Midnight Mass”.

All in all I would recommend it to the same crowd you just mentioned. It would have probably done numbers as a one season miniseries. I should have known it would be what it was because Stephen King was hyped about it lol.

My expectations in this were tempered as soon as I heard it would be a straight to Max exclusive, lol.

But yeah, I didn’t find myself hating it. It’s silly fun and the vampires actually felt threatening at times. It did strike me as mediocre overall though and I can’t see myself putting forth the time to pay it another watch in the future.

 

[Lootpack]

Entertaining enough to pass the time with during spooky season, but nothing special. Atmosphere felt like something out of a soft R-rated Goosebumps feature. Kinda what I feared ‘Fear Street’ would’ve turned out like in tone, but that line went way harder.

Spoiler

Leave it to little breh being the only character to act with some goddamn sense in this. Took a vampire putting a cheat code hex spell on Mark to have him act irrationally for once.

Breh walked in the church on some

“I’m gonna go after them. I just need to get some supplies.”

 

[Lootpack]

@987654321

Flanagan would’ve went to work on this, most likely would be sitting with a theatrical release too, but we also would’ve gotten various 10 minute monologues in return. The trade-offs.

 

[VBM]

I'm about to start Song of Susannah, and I'm very curious on what will be included, removed, and changed in the adaptation.

As long as they got Mordred da gawd and Dandelo, we're good

 

[daemonova]

Entertaining enough to pass the time with during spooky season, but nothing special. Atmosphere felt like something out of a soft R-rated Goosebumps feature. Kinda what I feared ‘Fear Street’ would’ve turned out like in tone, but that line went way harder.

Spoiler

Leave it to little breh being the only character to act with some goddamn sense in this. Took a vampire putting a cheat code hex spell on Mark to have him act irrationally for once.

Breh walked in the church on some

“I’m gonna go after them. I just need to get some supplies.”

You didn't see the Batman nightlight?

 

[abominable1]

Posted this in the official Horror thread
Its on our October watchlist

Horror thread's 31 days of Halloween List -

3. Salem's Lot 2024 (Max)

My initial thought was where was Mike Flanagan when this became available.
I was.........just.........whelmed....... Its serviceable
there is not enough dread in this and its.........................too clean??? (for lack of a better term)
the cinematography is way too crisp, its set in the 70's and looks too good, its not grimey, & not enough blood.
like people were cosplaying people in the 1970's
To me its one step above a horror comedy
the vampires are vicious though, Barlow was mysterious and demented, thought he would have held out longer in the finale though
loved the Count Orlock look too.
but - its an entertaining movie, better than the remake and the sequel to me - but not touching the original mini series

But Blade junior was 10 toes down Standing on Business though the entire flick!
with all that being said , its is enjoyable, if you haven't seen the original, it would be a damned good flick.

 

[Lootpack]

My initial thought was where was Mike Flanagan when this became available.

Strapped to a chair and held at gunpoint by Blumhouse to fix their fukk-up of ‘The Exorcist’ IP.

 

[Lootpack]

I was.........just.........whelmed....... Its serviceable
there is not enough dread in this and its.........................too clean??? (for lack of a better term)
the cinematography is way too crisp, its set in the 70's and looks too good, its not grimey, & not enough blood.
like people were cosplaying people in the 1970's

I didn’t like how empty it all felt. We had the beginning where the film invites us into their world, we see how lively this town is, and then all of a sudden it feels as if it’s just the main characters who are the only humans alive that are going up against these vampires.

The flick still has its fun moments but doesn’t really take its time to breathe and let us bask in the fall of the town. It undercuts the dread element that plays such a big role in the original work.

 

[abominable1]

I didn’t like how empty it all felt. We had the beginning where the film invites us into their world, we see how lively this town is, and then all of a sudden it feels as if it’s just the main characters who are the only humans alive that are going up against these vampires.

The flick still has its fun moments but doesn’t really take its time to breathe and let us bask in the fall of the town.

yeah, basically, after the funeral scene...
it was like the walking dead tv show, where they would only focus on certain characters for a few eps due to budget
so in the movie, you get like 4 minutes of focus on one or two characters, then swich to the next 2 or three, but never all together.
but in its defense, the vampires were putting in work offscreen and the population was literally dropping by the minute.

 

[987654321]

@987654321

Flanagan would’ve went to work on this, most likely would be sitting with a theatrical release too, but we also would’ve gotten various 10 minute monologues in return. The trade-offs.

lol I caught myself about to get mad as soon as the opening credits started.

Then, a little ways in, I realized my girl was enjoying the early parts of a story she would NEVER watch if it was anything like the book.

I just said fukk it, enjoyed it for what it was, and explained stuff when I mentioned that there were some changes from the book.

I can’t be too mad if Flanagan already let us eat with Midnight Mass lol.

My golden rule is if Stephen King is over the top with the hype, the adaption is gon be trash. If we read a little blurb about him saying he isn’t a fan, it’s gon be fie! Like the shining or Dr. Sleep.

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

You can feel that a lot was edited out and I really didn't care for most of the story changes. The 1979 version is still the best adaptation of the book.
Where Stephen King adaptations mess up with the translation from book to screen is the character development. Barlow is the main villain but in the book you learn about the regular citizens of the Lot got a lot of shyt going on behind closed doors, and the Marsten house has this foreboding evilness that casts over the town.

Also, I thought they may be able to tie-in this movie with the Dark Tower series that is in the works but they killed off the character that ties the two together

 

[Duke Dixon]

That's not Blade Jr., that's Pocketknife

This movie is the opposite of a slow burn. I'd call it a "Tik Tok Horror". This movie is for all the people that look at their phone, and say A24 horror movies are too slow, aren't fun, and rely on underlying themes(millennial trauma).

Even without missing the substance of other movies like Hereditary, Midsommar, or Talk to Me what's presented on screen is done well and you can tell the person enjoys horror movies. The cinematography and editing is stylish. Annabelle Comes Home is Gary Dauberman's last movie and Salem's Lot is around as good as that.

I didn't find the movie campy but there were two parts that made me go Not a fan of cgi and it looked bad in some parts. I think there's enough gore to separate it from something like Haunted Mansion that came out last year, but it's still safe to watch with the whole family.

For sons of actors that I watched growing who are around my age, Lewis Pullman was good. I'm interested in seeing him in Thunderbolts. He's was better than anything I've seen from Wyatt Russell, but right now Patrick Schwarzenegger or Bill Skarsgård are the best right now.

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

It’s all right. It does follow the book for the most part. My big complaint is no real character development.

Should have been stretched into a mini series. Everything felt rushed

It follows the book in very broad strokes, like if someone gave you a two or three sentence summary.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

not creepy like tobe hooper version?

 

[NobodyReally]

You guys were so right, this was not up to snuff. I disagree with those who said it was average or OK. This was a horrible adaptation. I love this book, I loved the original miniseries, and this makes a mockery of both. I don't understand how King allows these kinds of adaptations to continually be made. He's seen how they turn his works into trash, and he keeps allowing it. He should have some sort of blocking power or script review rights. This movie was borderline comedy. They used crosses like a Marvel superhero uses their favorite weapon. The vampire fly backs were hilarious. No character development, no real build up or atmosphere. Pure cheese. And Blade Jr, although cute and fun, was a ridiculous device here. I could definitely watch a movie centered around a young Black boy who acts like Blade. That could totally be a series of it's own, but that didn't belong in this particular story. Just no. In fact, everyone who lived initially was just a little too savvy and comfortable with the situation. It just too formulaic and trite and betrays the original story. So yeah, hated it. 2/10 because it started off OK.