Sumith Prasad
Gary Dauberman’s eponymous adaptation of Stephen King’s acclaimed novel ‘’Salem’s Lot’ is scary but “stretched,” revealed a test screening reaction. The film follows Ben Mears, a writer who returns to his hometown Jerusalem’s Lot seeking inspiration for his next novel. Mears eventually realizes that the lives of the residents of the small town are threatened by a vampire hiding in a big mansion in the region. The horror thriller progresses through Mears’ efforts to fight and defeat the life-sucking entity.
The test screening viewer described the opening monologue of the film, a flashback scene that depicts Mears’ childhood in the town, as “crazy intense.” According to the viewer, there are ample amount of jump scares in the film but they are “stretched very far into the length.” The vampires in the film are described as “animals” and not “James Wan ghosts.” Wan, the co-creator of the ‘Saw’ and ‘Insidious’ franchises and the creator of ‘The Conjuring’ universe, serves as a producer of the film.
Dauberman’s version of the saga of Ben Mears and Kurt Barlow is described by the viewer as more of a remake of the 1979 television adaptation of King’s novel than a faithful adaptation of the source text. The reaction reveals that the vampire scenes in the film do resemble the same sort of scenes in the series. In addition, the famed antagonist Barlow (William Sadler) does look similar to Reggie Nalder’s portrayal of the character in the show. “I was blown away by what I saw, Barlow looks like the original, just a little older and no blue skin. It was so creepy,” the viewer shared.
Another positive of the film, according to the viewer, is the climax, which is described as “clever.” The person described Makenzie Leigh’s portrayal of female protagonist Susan Norton as “really convincing.”
The viewer, however, wasn’t satisfied with the characters and the plot progression. “What problems I might have with the movie is that the movie doesn’t take time for the characters and the plot, everything feels rushed […]. The movie goes around 112 minutes but because the spooky scenes are stretched, it feels like I was sitting and watching a 2-and-a-half-hour movie,” the viewer shared. “You notice that all the characters from the book are actually included in the movie but they only have very short scenes, and all seem like short cameos, we get to know the town but not every single inhabitant, so I had the feeling that they are all just caricatures,” the viewer further added.
‘Salem’s Lot’ is Dauberman’s second feature film as the director, following his directorial debut ‘Annabelle Comes Home.’ His credits as a screenwriter include ‘Annabelle,’ ‘It,’ ‘The Nun,’ ‘It Chapter Two,’ etc. The cast of the film includes Lewis Pullman (‘Top Gun: Maverick’) as Mears, Alfre Woodard (‘L.A. Law’ and ‘Luke Cage’) as Dr. Cody, Pilou Asbæk as Richard Straker, Bill Camp (‘Lincoln’ and ‘12 Years a Slave’) as Matthew Burke, John Benjamin Hickey (‘Mapplethorpe’) as Father Callahan, etc. In addition to Wan, Michael Clear, Roy Lee, and Mark Wolper produce the film. Warner Bros. Pictures is yet to announce the release date of the film.
Read More: Stephen King Movies/Shows on Netflix
