Salem's Lot

"I think that an evil house...attracts evil men." - Ben Mears

release year: 1979
genre: horror/drama
viewing setting: home Bluray 1/23/23 and 12/1/16, and home DVD 2/1/14 and 11/9/99

synopsis: The small isolated New England town of Salem's Lot has a new inhabitant...one with fangs.

impressions: This thing is long - more than three hours. It uses much of that time to develop the characters and the interactions between them, which I liked. It took a while for creepy things to start happening, but once they did, the mood was really set. This is both a horror movie and a drama, which isn't a bad thing. Just be prepared to focus on it for three hours.

acting: David Soul is the writer who quickly senses that things aren't right. Bonnie Bedelia is a teacher and his romantic interest. Lance Kerwin is a kid who's into monsters and therefore also realizes what's happening. James Mason is the creepy, polite old guy who's (sometimes subtly gleefully) paving the way for the vampire. Geoffrey Lewis is a cemetery employee who's among the first to get turned. Reggie Nalder is memorable as the pale, creepy vampire.

final word: Well worth seeing for fans of vampires and/or Stephen King.

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