.gif)
Salem's Lot (1979 TV mini-series)
Encyclopedia
Salem's Lot is a 1979 American
television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King
. Directed by Tobe Hooper
and starring David Soul
and James Mason
, the plot revolves around a writer returning to his home town and discovers the citizens are turning into vampires. It combines elements of both the vampire film and haunted house
subgenres.
shows a church in Guatemala
in which two men, Ben Mears and Mark Petrie, are filling small bottles with holy water
. When one of the bottles begins to emit an eerie supernatural glow, Mears tells Petrie "They've found us again."
The story then flashes back
two years, to the small town of Salem's Lot
(formally known as Jerusalem's Lot) in Maine
in the United States
. Ben Mears, an author, has returned to the town after a long absence to write a book about the Marsten House, an ominous old property on a hilltop which has a reputation for being haunted. Mears attempts to rent the house but finds that another new arrival in town, the mysterious Richard Straker, has recently bought it. Straker also opens an antique shop with his oft-mentioned but always absent business partner, Kurt Barlow. Meanwhile, Mears moves into a boarding house in town run by Eva Miller, and develops a romantic relationship with a local woman, Susan Norton. He befriends Susan's father, Dr. Bill Norton, and also renews his old friendship with his former school teacher, Jason Burke. Mears tells Burke that he feels the Marsten House is somehow inherently evil
, and recalls how he was once traumatized in the house when he was a child.
After a large crate is delivered to the Marsten House one night, an increasing number of the townsfolk begin to disappear or die in strange circumstances. Both Mears and Straker are initially the main suspects as they are new in town, but it becomes clear that the crate contained Straker's mysterious business partner, Kurt Barlow, an ancient master vampire who has come to the town after having sent Straker to make way for his arrival. Straker kills a young local boy, Ralphie Glick, as an offering to Barlow, while Barlow himself kills local realtor Larry Crockett after he is chased out of the home of Bonnie Sawyer by Bonnie's husband. The Glick boy then returns as a vampire to claim his brother, Danny, who himself becomes undead
. In turn, Danny kills the local gravedigger
Mike Ryerson who was bothered by Danny's open eyes and then attempts to kill his schoolfriend Mark Petrie. However, Mark is a horror film buff who manages to repel Danny with a crucifix
.
Slowly, the vampires spread as Mears and Burke figure out what is happening to the town and attempt to do something to stop it. Mark's parents are both killed by Barlow, though Mark is allowed to escape when the local priest, Father Callahan, sacrifices himself to Barlow. Jason Burke, however, falls prey to a heart attack following an encounter with the newly vampirised Mike Ryerson. In the end, Susan Norton and Mark Petrie are captured by Straker after breaking into the Marsten House. Armed with wooden stakes and holy water, Mears and Dr. Norton head over to the house to destroy Barlow when they run into Mark who has managed to escape. Inside the house, Dr. Norton is killed by Straker, who is himself then killed by Mears using a pistol. Afterwards, Mears and Petrie find Barlow's coffin in the cellar and destroy him by driving a stake through his heart. They then escape from the other vampires in the cellar (the various townsfolk), and set fire to the house. However, Susan is nowhere to be found. As the house burns, the wind begins to carry the fire towards the town itself. Mears and Petrie then flee Salem's Lot knowing that the fire will drive all the other vampires from their hiding places and purify the town from the evil that has engulfed it.
The story then returns to Mears and Petrie at the church in Guatemala two years later. It quickly becomes clear that they are on the run from the surviving vampires from Salem's Lot, who have been relentlessly pursuing them. Their supplies of holy water glow whenever a vampire is nearby. Realising that they have been tracked down yet again, Mears and Petrie return to their lodgings to collect their belongings. However, once there, Mears finds Susan lying in his bed. Now a vampire, she prepares to bite him as he leans down to kiss her, but he drives a stake through her heart. Filled with grief, he and Petrie leave, knowing that vampires are still hunting them.
acquired the rights to Salem's Lot, the studio sought to turn the 400-page novel by Stephen King into a feature film, while still remaining faithful to the source material. Producer Stirling Silliphant
, screenwriter Robert Getchell
, and writer/director Larry Cohen
all contributed screenplays but none proved satisfactory. "It was a mess." Stephen King said "Every director in Hollywood who's ever been involved with horror wanted to do it, but nobody could come up with a script".
The project was eventually turned over to Warner Brothers Television and producer Richard Korbitz decided Salem's Lot would work better as a television miniseries than as a feature film format due the novel's length. Television writer Paul Monash
was contracted to write the teleplay
, having previously produced the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel Carrie
and worked on the television series Peyton Place
and as such was familiar with writing about small towns. A screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
(1974), resulted in Richard Kobritz selecting Tobe Hooper
as director.
With a budget of $4 million, principal photography
began on July 10, 1979, in Ferndale
, Northern California
, and in Burbank
studios. Filming officially wrapped
on August 29, 1979.
However much of the violence and graphic scenes in the novel had to be omitted to meet broadcast restrictions. Producer Richard Kobritz, who took a strong creative interests in his films, also added several changes to Monash's script including turning the head vampire Kurt Barlow from a cultured human-looking villain into a speechless demonic-looking monster. Kobritz explained:
Other changes by Kobritz included having the final confrontation with Barlow in the cellar of Marsten House whereas in the book it is in the basement of Eva Miller's boarding house, a concept Kobritz felt "Just doesn't work. I mean, from a point of sheer construction in a well-written screenplay, he's got to reside in the inside the Marsten House. He's a major star in the picture - the third or fourth most important character - he's got to be there. It may have worked in the book, but not in the movie." Susan's death was also moved to the climax, to give her death "more impact and provide the film with a snap ending."
said "I cleaned up my speech pattern a little bit. I sound like a writer, a man who's at home with words." For the roles of Richard K. Straker and the vampire Kurt Barlow, James Mason
and Reggie Nalder
had been on producer Richard Korbitz' "wish list". Korbitz sent Mason a copy of the script, who loved the part and his wife, Clarissa Kaye-Mason, was also cast as Marjorie Glick. However, Nalder was less impressed "The makeup and contact lenses were painful but I got used to them. I liked the money best of all."
The miniseries also features Elisha Cook Jr.
as Weasel Philips and Marie Windsor
as Eva Miller, two characters with a relationship. This casting was an inside joke by producer Korbitz, a fan of Stanley Kubrick
; Cook and Windsor had previously played a couple in Kubrick's The Killing (1956).
Although Salem's Lot was aimed at television, a European theatrical release was planned from the start, which would include more violence. Two versions of the scene where Cully Sawyer threatens Larry Crockett with a shotgun were shot. In one version, Larry holds the gun barrel in his mouth, while in the mini-series the barrel is in front of his face. "They worked at a feature film pace instead of a TV pace," recalls actor Lance Kerwin on the filming. "It's really even hard to tell the flow of the film. It was a miniseries originally, then we shot a feature film version for Europe at the same time. They've edited and cut together so much."
Unable to find a house in Ferndale that resembled the Marsten House from the book, an estimated $100,000 was spent on constructing a three-story facade over an already-existing house on a hillside, overlooking Ferndale and the Salt River Valley
. Designed by Mort Rabinowitz, it took 20 days to build. Another $70,000 was spent on constructing the interior set of the house which proved even more difficult for designer Rabinowitz, who also designed the building of Straker's antique shop and the small village in Guatemala where the beginning and end of the miniseries is set.
The vampire make-up involving glowing contact lenses were invented by Jack Young. According to Tobe Hooper, the make up on actor Reggie Nalder would constantly fall off, as well as the fake nails, teeth and the contact lenses would go sideways. The contact lenses could only be worn for 15 minutes at a time before it has to be removed to let the eye rest for 30 minutes.
The vampire levitation
s were accomplished by placing the actors on a boom crane
instead of traditional wires, "We didn't fly our vampires in on wires, because even in the best of films you can see them" producer Richard Korbitz explains, "We wanted to get a feeling of floating. And the effect is horrific, because you know there are no wires. It has a very spooky, eerie quality to it." The levitation sequences were also shot-in-reverse to make the scenes more eerie.
type score", the score
was composed and conducted by Harry Sukman, whom Korbitz described as "a former cohort and protege of Victor Young
". It was the composer's last work before he passed away in 1984. Although the score has not had an official release, bootlegs
have surfaced on the net for download and eBay
.
, pays several homages to Psycho
(1960) in Salem's Lot. The appearance of Kurt Barlow is an homage to Count Orlock in Nosferatu (1922).
Salem's Lot had a significant impact on the vampire genre, as it inspired the horror vampire classic Fright Night
(1985) and the scenes of vampire boys floating outside windows would be referenced in The Lost Boys
(1987) and spoofed
in The Simpsons
Treehouse of Horror IV
episode Bart Simpson's Dracula. Salem's Lot has also been cited as one of the primary influences for Joss Whedon
's hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
in Europe. The theatrical cut of Salem's Lot features different musical cues, alternative scenes, and deletes many scenes, including the prologue and epilogue with Ben Mears and Mark Petrie in Guatemala as well as Susan's fate.
and was titled Salem's Lot: The Movie in its VHS
release. It was later released alongside A Return to Salem's Lot on VHS as a "Movie Double Feature". Warner Bros. eventually released the full-length miniseries on to VHS, as well as on DVD
. The DVD release includes all of the extra scenes from the theatrical version, except the alternative scene with of Larry Crockett putting Cully Sawyer's gun in his mouth.
reports 82% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based on 11 reviews, with a rating of 6.5/10. British film critic Mark Kermode
has called it "very scary" and "one of the very best screen adaptations of a Stephen King novel to date." Helen O'Hara
of Empire Magazine gave the film three out of five stars.
American critic Leonard Maltin
called it "A well-made hellraiser." Time Out praised "Hooper's fluid camerawork, creepy atmospherics, and skilful handling of the gripping climax." Salem's Lot was also placed on Time Outs list of best vampire films. The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review called it "one of the most underrated of all King adaptations" Brian McKay of eFilm Critic wrote "Although I'll admit it is incredibly dated, it still manages to be thoroughly creepy."
Salem's Lot was featured on AMC's list of Remembering Made-for-TV Terrors and Reggie Nalder's
Nosferatu-like portrayal of Kurt Barlow was ranked #8 on Entertainment Weekly's
"20 Greatest Vampires." Ronnie Scribner's
infamous "window" scene as the child vampire Ralphie Glick was ranked #4 on Empire Magazine's list of "Top 10 Scariest Movie Scenes" and was ranked #42 on the UK Channel 4's
100 Greatest Scary Moments (2003).
The 112-minute "movie" version of the miniseries has been mostly disparaged in recent years, though it was preferred by some people including Stephen King himself.
television series intended to air on NBC
, produced by Richard Korbitz and involving Robert Bloch
, was originally planned. The series was set to continue the vampire hunting actives of Ben Mears and Mark Petrie though was ultimately never made.
In a Fangoria Magazine interview, actor Reggie Nalder acknowledged to have spoken with production people about a sequel
to Salem's Lot, but nothing came out of it. In 1987, an unofficial sequel was released, A Return to Salem's Lot
, directed and written by Larry Cohen
. The sequel used the poster art from the original depicting Nalder as Kurt Barlow, however the sequel features neither the character nor the same actor. Nalder stated that this did not bother him.
In 2004, a new television adaptation of Salem's Lot was made by TNT
in association with Warner Bros.
Directed by Mikael Salomon
, the remake was shown in two parts with a similar running length to the original 1979 miniseries. It starred Rob Lowe
as Ben Mears, Donald Sutherland
as Richard Straker, Rutger Hauer as Kurt Barlow, and James Cromwell
as Father Callahan (a substantially expanded role compared to the 1979 version).
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
. Directed by Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. His works include the cult classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , along with its first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ; the three-time Emmy-nominated Stephen King film adaptation...
and starring David Soul
David Soul
David Soul is an American-British actor and singer, best known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television programme Starsky and Hutch . He gained British citizenship in 2004.-Early life:...
and James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
, the plot revolves around a writer returning to his home town and discovers the citizens are turning into vampires. It combines elements of both the vampire film and haunted house
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
subgenres.
Plot
The prologuePrologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
shows a church in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
in which two men, Ben Mears and Mark Petrie, are filling small bottles with holy water
Holy water
Holy water is water that, in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and some other churches, has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects; or as a means of repelling evil.The use for baptism and...
. When one of the bottles begins to emit an eerie supernatural glow, Mears tells Petrie "They've found us again."
The story then flashes back
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
two years, to the small town of Salem's Lot
Jerusalem's Lot (Stephen King)
Jerusalem's Lot is a fictional town in the works of horror fiction writer Stephen King...
(formally known as Jerusalem's Lot) in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Ben Mears, an author, has returned to the town after a long absence to write a book about the Marsten House, an ominous old property on a hilltop which has a reputation for being haunted. Mears attempts to rent the house but finds that another new arrival in town, the mysterious Richard Straker, has recently bought it. Straker also opens an antique shop with his oft-mentioned but always absent business partner, Kurt Barlow. Meanwhile, Mears moves into a boarding house in town run by Eva Miller, and develops a romantic relationship with a local woman, Susan Norton. He befriends Susan's father, Dr. Bill Norton, and also renews his old friendship with his former school teacher, Jason Burke. Mears tells Burke that he feels the Marsten House is somehow inherently evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
, and recalls how he was once traumatized in the house when he was a child.
After a large crate is delivered to the Marsten House one night, an increasing number of the townsfolk begin to disappear or die in strange circumstances. Both Mears and Straker are initially the main suspects as they are new in town, but it becomes clear that the crate contained Straker's mysterious business partner, Kurt Barlow, an ancient master vampire who has come to the town after having sent Straker to make way for his arrival. Straker kills a young local boy, Ralphie Glick, as an offering to Barlow, while Barlow himself kills local realtor Larry Crockett after he is chased out of the home of Bonnie Sawyer by Bonnie's husband. The Glick boy then returns as a vampire to claim his brother, Danny, who himself becomes undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
. In turn, Danny kills the local gravedigger
Gravedigger
A gravedigger is a cemetery worker responsible for digging graves used in the process of burial.-Fossors:Fossor or Fossarius , from the Latin verb fodere 'to dig', referred to grave diggers in the Roman catacombs in the first three centuries of the Christian Era...
Mike Ryerson who was bothered by Danny's open eyes and then attempts to kill his schoolfriend Mark Petrie. However, Mark is a horror film buff who manages to repel Danny with a crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
.
Slowly, the vampires spread as Mears and Burke figure out what is happening to the town and attempt to do something to stop it. Mark's parents are both killed by Barlow, though Mark is allowed to escape when the local priest, Father Callahan, sacrifices himself to Barlow. Jason Burke, however, falls prey to a heart attack following an encounter with the newly vampirised Mike Ryerson. In the end, Susan Norton and Mark Petrie are captured by Straker after breaking into the Marsten House. Armed with wooden stakes and holy water, Mears and Dr. Norton head over to the house to destroy Barlow when they run into Mark who has managed to escape. Inside the house, Dr. Norton is killed by Straker, who is himself then killed by Mears using a pistol. Afterwards, Mears and Petrie find Barlow's coffin in the cellar and destroy him by driving a stake through his heart. They then escape from the other vampires in the cellar (the various townsfolk), and set fire to the house. However, Susan is nowhere to be found. As the house burns, the wind begins to carry the fire towards the town itself. Mears and Petrie then flee Salem's Lot knowing that the fire will drive all the other vampires from their hiding places and purify the town from the evil that has engulfed it.
The story then returns to Mears and Petrie at the church in Guatemala two years later. It quickly becomes clear that they are on the run from the surviving vampires from Salem's Lot, who have been relentlessly pursuing them. Their supplies of holy water glow whenever a vampire is nearby. Realising that they have been tracked down yet again, Mears and Petrie return to their lodgings to collect their belongings. However, once there, Mears finds Susan lying in his bed. Now a vampire, she prepares to bite him as he leans down to kiss her, but he drives a stake through her heart. Filled with grief, he and Petrie leave, knowing that vampires are still hunting them.
Cast
- David SoulDavid SoulDavid Soul is an American-British actor and singer, best known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television programme Starsky and Hutch . He gained British citizenship in 2004.-Early life:...
as Ben Mears - James MasonJames MasonJames Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
as Richard Straker - Lance KerwinLance KerwinLance Kerwin is an American actor, perhaps best remembered for his starring role in the TV series James at 15. Since the mid-1990s, however, Kerwin has not acted, instead focusing on his Christian religious beliefs, having become a pastor...
as Mark Petrie - Bonnie BedeliaBonnie BedeliaBonnie Bedelia Culkin is an American actress best known for her supporting roles in the action film Die Hard and the courtroom drama Presumed Innocent...
as Susan Norton - Lew AyresLew AyresLew Ayres was an American actor, best known for starring as Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front and for playing Dr...
as Jason Burke - Ed FlandersEd FlandersEdward Paul Flanders was an American actor best known for his role as Dr. Donald Westphall in the television series St. Elsewhere.- Biography :...
as Bill Norton - Fred WillardFred WillardFred Willard is an American actor, comedian, and voice over actor, best known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as...
as Larry Crockett - Julie CobbJulie CobbJulie Cobb is a longtime American actress, the daughter of actor Lee J. Cobb and actress Helen Beverley. At one point, she was a Playboy Bunny....
as Bonnie Sawyer - Kenneth McMillanKenneth McMillan (actor)Kenneth McMillan was an American actor. McMillan was usually cast as gruff, hostile and unfriendly characters due to his rough image...
as Constable Parkins Gillespie - Geoffrey Lewis as Mike Ryerson
- Barney McFadden as Ned Tebbets
- Marie WindsorMarie WindsorMarie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...
as Eva Miller
- Bonnie BartlettBonnie BartlettBonnie Bartlett is an American television and film actress. Her career spans over 50 years, with her first major role being on a 1950s daytime drama, Love of Life. She is best known for her role as Ellen Craig on the medical drama series St. Elsewhere. She and her husband, actor William Daniels,...
as Ann Norton - George DzundzaGeorge DzundzaGeorge Dzundza is an American television and film actor.-Personal life:Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian father and Polish mother who were forced into factory labour by the Nazis. He spent the first few years of his life in displaced persons camps with his parents and one...
as Cully Sawyer - Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
as Gordon "Weasel" Phillips - Clarissa Kaye-Mason as Marjorie Glick
- Ned Wilson as Henry Glick
- Barbara BabcockBarbara BabcockBarbara Babcock is an American character actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Grace Gardner on Hill Street Blues for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress—Drama Series in 1981 and her role as Dorothy Jennings on Dr...
as June Petrie - Joshua Bryant as Ted Petrie
- James Gallery as Father Callahan
- Brad SavageBrad SavageBrad Savage is an American actor best known for his role as Danny in the 1984 movie Red Dawn, for which he received a nomination for the Young Artist Award in the category "Best Young Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama".-Biography:Brad Savage was born in...
as Danny Glick - Ronnie ScribnerRonnie ScribnerRonnie Scribner is an American actor. A professional child actor and model since the age of 11, Scribner is best known for his iconic role as the child vampire, Ralphie Glick in the 1979 CBS mini-series Salem's Lot...
as Ralphie Glick - Reggie NalderReggie NalderReggie Nalder was a prolific film and television character actor from the late 1940s to the early 1990s...
as Kurt Barlow
Production
After Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
acquired the rights to Salem's Lot, the studio sought to turn the 400-page novel by Stephen King into a feature film, while still remaining faithful to the source material. Producer Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Dale Silliphant was an American screenwriter and producer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to Glendale, California as a child, graduated from Hoover High School, and was educated at the University of Southern California...
, screenwriter Robert Getchell
Robert Getchell
Robert Getchell is an American screenwriter. He is probably best known for writing Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and creating the Sitcom Alice.-Filmography:* Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore * Bound for Glory...
, and writer/director Larry Cohen
Larry Cohen
Lawrence G. "Larry" Cohen is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known as a B-Movie auteur of horror and science fiction films - often containing a police procedural element - during 1970s and 1980s...
all contributed screenplays but none proved satisfactory. "It was a mess." Stephen King said "Every director in Hollywood who's ever been involved with horror wanted to do it, but nobody could come up with a script".
The project was eventually turned over to Warner Brothers Television and producer Richard Korbitz decided Salem's Lot would work better as a television miniseries than as a feature film format due the novel's length. Television writer Paul Monash
Paul Monash
-Life and career:Paul Monash was born in Harlem, New York, in 1917, and grew up in The Bronx. His mother, Rhoda Melrose, acted in silent films. Monash earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a master's degree in education from Columbia University...
was contracted to write the teleplay
Teleplay
A teleplay is a television play, a comedy or drama written or adapted for television. The term surfaced during the 1950s with wide usage to distinguish a television plays from stage plays for the theater and screenplays written for films...
, having previously produced the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel Carrie
Carrie (novel)
Carrie is American author Stephen King's first published novel, released in 1974. It revolves around the eponymous Carrie, a shy high-school girl, who uses her newly discovered telekinetic powers to exact revenge on those who tease her...
and worked on the television series Peyton Place
Peyton Place (TV series)
Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...
and as such was familiar with writing about small towns. A screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the...
(1974), resulted in Richard Kobritz selecting Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. His works include the cult classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , along with its first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ; the three-time Emmy-nominated Stephen King film adaptation...
as director.
With a budget of $4 million, principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
began on July 10, 1979, in Ferndale
Ferndale, California
Ferndale is a city in Humboldt County, California, United States. Known for its well-preserved Victorian buildings, the city's population was 1,371 at the 2010 census, down from 1,382 at the 2000 census...
, Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
, and in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
studios. Filming officially wrapped
Wrap (filmmaking)
Wrap is a phrase used by the director in the early days of the film industry to signal the end of filming. Nowadays, the call is more commonly "that's a wrap!"...
on August 29, 1979.
Adaptation from source material
Although generally the same story, the television adaptation takes several liberties with King's source novel. Many characters have been combined or merely deleted, as have certain subplots, and the character of Barlow is totally different in the miniseries than he is in the novel. However, Stephen King praised Paul Monash's screenplay and commented "Monash has succeeded in combining the characters a lot, and it works".However much of the violence and graphic scenes in the novel had to be omitted to meet broadcast restrictions. Producer Richard Kobritz, who took a strong creative interests in his films, also added several changes to Monash's script including turning the head vampire Kurt Barlow from a cultured human-looking villain into a speechless demonic-looking monster. Kobritz explained:
Other changes by Kobritz included having the final confrontation with Barlow in the cellar of Marsten House whereas in the book it is in the basement of Eva Miller's boarding house, a concept Kobritz felt "Just doesn't work. I mean, from a point of sheer construction in a well-written screenplay, he's got to reside in the inside the Marsten House. He's a major star in the picture - the third or fourth most important character - he's got to be there. It may have worked in the book, but not in the movie." Susan's death was also moved to the climax, to give her death "more impact and provide the film with a snap ending."
Casting
On playing Ben Mears, David SoulDavid Soul
David Soul is an American-British actor and singer, best known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television programme Starsky and Hutch . He gained British citizenship in 2004.-Early life:...
said "I cleaned up my speech pattern a little bit. I sound like a writer, a man who's at home with words." For the roles of Richard K. Straker and the vampire Kurt Barlow, James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
and Reggie Nalder
Reggie Nalder
Reggie Nalder was a prolific film and television character actor from the late 1940s to the early 1990s...
had been on producer Richard Korbitz' "wish list". Korbitz sent Mason a copy of the script, who loved the part and his wife, Clarissa Kaye-Mason, was also cast as Marjorie Glick. However, Nalder was less impressed "The makeup and contact lenses were painful but I got used to them. I liked the money best of all."
The miniseries also features Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
as Weasel Philips and Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...
as Eva Miller, two characters with a relationship. This casting was an inside joke by producer Korbitz, a fan of Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
; Cook and Windsor had previously played a couple in Kubrick's The Killing (1956).
Direction
Salem's Lot does not rely on the same kind of dynamics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. "This film is very spooky - it suggests things and always has the overtone of the grave. It affects you differently than my other horror films. It's more soft-shelled," director Tobe Hooper explains. "A television movie does not have blood or violence. It has atmosphere which creates something you cannot escape - the reminder that our time is limited and all the accoutrements that go with it, such as the visuals.Although Salem's Lot was aimed at television, a European theatrical release was planned from the start, which would include more violence. Two versions of the scene where Cully Sawyer threatens Larry Crockett with a shotgun were shot. In one version, Larry holds the gun barrel in his mouth, while in the mini-series the barrel is in front of his face. "They worked at a feature film pace instead of a TV pace," recalls actor Lance Kerwin on the filming. "It's really even hard to tell the flow of the film. It was a miniseries originally, then we shot a feature film version for Europe at the same time. They've edited and cut together so much."
Design and effects
Salt River Valley
The Salt River Valley defines an extensive valley on the Salt River in central Arizona, which contains the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.Although this geographic term still identifies the area, the name "Valley of the Sun" popularly replaced the usage starting in the early 1930s for purposes of...
. Designed by Mort Rabinowitz, it took 20 days to build. Another $70,000 was spent on constructing the interior set of the house which proved even more difficult for designer Rabinowitz, who also designed the building of Straker's antique shop and the small village in Guatemala where the beginning and end of the miniseries is set.
The vampire make-up involving glowing contact lenses were invented by Jack Young. According to Tobe Hooper, the make up on actor Reggie Nalder would constantly fall off, as well as the fake nails, teeth and the contact lenses would go sideways. The contact lenses could only be worn for 15 minutes at a time before it has to be removed to let the eye rest for 30 minutes.
The vampire levitation
Levitation
Levitation is the process by which an object is suspended by a physical force against gravity, in a stable position without solid physical contact...
s were accomplished by placing the actors on a boom crane
Crane shot
In filmmaking and video production a crane shot is a shot taken by a camera on a crane. The most obvious uses are to view the actors from above or to move up and away from them, a common way of ending a movie. Some filmmakers like to have the camera on a boom arm just to make it easier to move...
instead of traditional wires, "We didn't fly our vampires in on wires, because even in the best of films you can see them" producer Richard Korbitz explains, "We wanted to get a feeling of floating. And the effect is horrific, because you know there are no wires. It has a very spooky, eerie quality to it." The levitation sequences were also shot-in-reverse to make the scenes more eerie.
Music
Producer Richard Korbitz wanting "a good, atmospheric, old-fashioned, Bernie HerrmannBernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
type score", the score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
was composed and conducted by Harry Sukman, whom Korbitz described as "a former cohort and protege of Victor Young
Victor Young
Victor Young was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago.-Biography:...
". It was the composer's last work before he passed away in 1984. Although the score has not had an official release, bootlegs
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
have surfaced on the net for download and eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
.
Inspirations and influences
Tobe Hooper, a great admirer of Alfred HitchcockAlfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, pays several homages to Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
(1960) in Salem's Lot. The appearance of Kurt Barlow is an homage to Count Orlock in Nosferatu (1922).
Salem's Lot had a significant impact on the vampire genre, as it inspired the horror vampire classic Fright Night
Fright Night
# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...
(1985) and the scenes of vampire boys floating outside windows would be referenced in The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys is a 1987 American teen comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamison Newlander, and Barnard Hughes....
(1987) and spoofed
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
Treehouse of Horror IV
Treehouse of Horror IV
"Treehouse of Horror IV" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons fifth season and the fourth episode in the Treehouse of Horror series of Halloween specials. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 28, 1993, and features three short stories called "The Devil and Homer...
episode Bart Simpson's Dracula. Salem's Lot has also been cited as one of the primary influences for Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
's hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Release
Salem's Lot aired on CBS-TV on Nov. 17 - 24, 1979 and ran three-hours. NAL/Signet Books published a paperback tie-in of the novel which included "8 pages of blood-chilling photos".Theatrical cut
A 112-minute edit of the miniseries was subsequently given a theatrical releaseFilm release
A film release is the stage at which a completed film is legally authorized by its owner for public distribution.The process includes locating a distributor to handle the film...
in Europe. The theatrical cut of Salem's Lot features different musical cues, alternative scenes, and deletes many scenes, including the prologue and epilogue with Ben Mears and Mark Petrie in Guatemala as well as Susan's fate.
Home release
The theatrical cut also aired on cable-tvCable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and was titled Salem's Lot: The Movie in its VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
release. It was later released alongside A Return to Salem's Lot on VHS as a "Movie Double Feature". Warner Bros. eventually released the full-length miniseries on to VHS, as well as on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. The DVD release includes all of the extra scenes from the theatrical version, except the alternative scene with of Larry Crockett putting Cully Sawyer's gun in his mouth.
Reception
Salem's Lot has received generally positive reviews. Review aggregate website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports 82% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based on 11 reviews, with a rating of 6.5/10. British film critic Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
has called it "very scary" and "one of the very best screen adaptations of a Stephen King novel to date." Helen O'Hara
Helen O'Hara
Helen O'Hara is a British musician, formerly a member of the band Dexys Midnight Runners between 1982 and 1987, including performing on songs such as "Come on Eileen" from the Too-Rye-Ay album....
of Empire Magazine gave the film three out of five stars.
American critic Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
called it "A well-made hellraiser." Time Out praised "Hooper's fluid camerawork, creepy atmospherics, and skilful handling of the gripping climax." Salem's Lot was also placed on Time Outs list of best vampire films. The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review called it "one of the most underrated of all King adaptations" Brian McKay of eFilm Critic wrote "Although I'll admit it is incredibly dated, it still manages to be thoroughly creepy."
Salem's Lot was featured on AMC's list of Remembering Made-for-TV Terrors and Reggie Nalder's
Reggie Nalder
Reggie Nalder was a prolific film and television character actor from the late 1940s to the early 1990s...
Nosferatu-like portrayal of Kurt Barlow was ranked #8 on Entertainment Weekly's
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
"20 Greatest Vampires." Ronnie Scribner's
Ronnie Scribner
Ronnie Scribner is an American actor. A professional child actor and model since the age of 11, Scribner is best known for his iconic role as the child vampire, Ralphie Glick in the 1979 CBS mini-series Salem's Lot...
infamous "window" scene as the child vampire Ralphie Glick was ranked #4 on Empire Magazine's list of "Top 10 Scariest Movie Scenes" and was ranked #42 on the UK Channel 4's
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
100 Greatest Scary Moments (2003).
The 112-minute "movie" version of the miniseries has been mostly disparaged in recent years, though it was preferred by some people including Stephen King himself.
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Edgar Award Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America... |
Best Television Feature or Miniseries | Paul Monash Paul Monash -Life and career:Paul Monash was born in Harlem, New York, in 1917, and grew up in The Bronx. His mother, Rhoda Melrose, acted in silent films. Monash earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a master's degree in education from Columbia University... |
Nominated |
| 1980 Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming... |
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences | Gene Kraft | Nominated |
| Outstanding Achievement in Makeup | Ben Lane and Jack H. Young | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Limited Series or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series.-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-Total Awards:* CBS - 10* ABC - 7* NBC - 6* FOX - 3* Syndicated - 3* Discovery Channel - 2... |
Harry Sukman | Nominated |
Sequels and other adaptations
A sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
television series intended to air on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, produced by Richard Korbitz and involving Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
, was originally planned. The series was set to continue the vampire hunting actives of Ben Mears and Mark Petrie though was ultimately never made.
In a Fangoria Magazine interview, actor Reggie Nalder acknowledged to have spoken with production people about a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to Salem's Lot, but nothing came out of it. In 1987, an unofficial sequel was released, A Return to Salem's Lot
A Return to Salem's Lot
A Return to Salem's Lot is a 1987 horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen.-Plot:Michael Moriarty plays an amoral anthropologist who has been lumbered with his dysfunctional adolescent son and who returns to Salem's Lot, the town of his birth, to find that it has been taken over by the undead...
, directed and written by Larry Cohen
Larry Cohen
Lawrence G. "Larry" Cohen is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known as a B-Movie auteur of horror and science fiction films - often containing a police procedural element - during 1970s and 1980s...
. The sequel used the poster art from the original depicting Nalder as Kurt Barlow, however the sequel features neither the character nor the same actor. Nalder stated that this did not bother him.
In 2004, a new television adaptation of Salem's Lot was made by TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
in association with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Directed by Mikael Salomon
Mikael Salomon
Mikael Salomon is a Danish filmmaker, cinematographer of The Abyss and Backdraft , and director of Band of Brothers ....
, the remake was shown in two parts with a similar running length to the original 1979 miniseries. It starred Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
as Ben Mears, Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
as Richard Straker, Rutger Hauer as Kurt Barlow, and James Cromwell
James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe , for which he earned Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact , L.A...
as Father Callahan (a substantially expanded role compared to the 1979 version).