Salem’s Lot (1979)

Directed by Tobe Hooper. Starring David Soul, James Mason, Bonnie Bedelia, Lance Kerwin, Ed Flanders, Kenneth McMillan, Lew Ayres, George Dzundza, Julie Cobb, Fred Willard, Geoffrey Lewis, Barney McFadden, Barbara Babcock, Clarissa Kaye, Bonnie Bartlett, Marie Windsor, Reggie Nalder. [PG]

Second film adaptation of a Stephen King novel lands between the virtuoso work from Brian De Palma (Carrie) and Stanley Kubrick (The Shining), and suffers greatly in comparison. Granted, being restricted to PG-level frights and bloodletting isn’t the fault of the filmmakers, but what scares there are aren’t merely tepid, they’re awkward and amateurish. Story: mysterious Mason purchases an ominous old house in the small town of Salem’s Lot and crates in an ancient vampire that begins feeding on the local population, who in turn feed on others, and so on; it’s up to Starsky’s partner, Hutch (a.k.a., David Soul), and a teenage horror buff (Kerwin) to stop the feeding frenzy. Takes way too long to get going as it loosely identifies King’s usual supporting roster of bullies, adulterers, weirdos, zealots, etc., and the production values are too threadbare and inconsistently atmospheric to ever cast a vivid pall of gloom and doom. The first time a levitating child vampire scratches fingernails on a window, the effect is modestly chilling, but the setup is repeated to the point where it turns parodic; indeed, the picture as a whole is more spoofy than spooky, more foolish than ghoulish, more—well, you get the hackneyed point. Not awful for enthusiasts of the novelist and/or bloodsucker fiction in general, but too long, creaky, and tame to win many converts. Constructed as a miniseries to air on American television, while a severely truncated version was prepped for a European theatrical release; this review pertains to the miniseries as reassembled for home video (uncut, save for some of the titles and the preview/recap sections).

49/100