Search - Salem's Lot - The Miniseries on DVD

Such potential

Trixie | Ohio | 10/30/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Stephen King has not been treated kindly by the movies. For years, his books were turned into films. Most of them bad. None of them on par with the books. This has been remedied in the past few years by the television miniseries, the only format that can do King justice. For while he may be a horror writer, it's King's gift for prose and characterization that makes him shine above others in the genre. The Shining and especially The Stand fared well as miniseries. Now Salem's Lot has been remade. The Tobe Hooper version (also made for TV) was flawed in that it made some unwise changes to the book and had a silly ending but it was genuinely scary. And to that end, this remake largely falls short.

(This review is written from the perspective of someone who has read the book and I assume most viewers will have read it or are familiar with it.)

I don't know why every writer who takes a crack at King has to change plot and character needlessly but it seems they do. This version has far too much setup before anything really happens. Some of the good stuff includes an updated backstory for Ben Mears and a much more sinister history for him with the Marsten house (in this version, he actually witnesses the suicide death of Hubie Marsten instead of only imagining it years later.) This version also includes Dr. Jim Cody and Father Callahan-one of whom was eliminated from the original and the other serving a much truncated role. The Barlow character is also a full-fledged one instead of a speechless Nosferatu that relied on the Straker character (played in the original by James Mason) for a voice and personality.

Alas most of the new material is unnecessary padding and I was largely bored by the first half. For example, a new story line about Dr. Cody having an affair with a patient and getting blackmailed that was not in the book and totally unnecessary. These revisions on the original become particularly annoying when some of the best moments from the book are left out later on or not fully explained. One of the creepiest moments in the novel was when the team breaks into the Marsten House only to find Barlow had already relocated and left them a letter correctly guessing and urbanely threatening each team member. That was completely omitted. They do add a nice touch though with the subsequent discovery of Susan there that I won't reveal.

By failing to stick to the book and venturing out on his own, the screenwriter (Peter Filardi) also introduces a number of noticeable logic gaps. The characters make a point of saying vampires can't enter a home unless they are invited only to have Barlow later do just that without explanation. Later, after their leader is killed the vampires all seem to turn into zombies with one significant exception. While this made for a poignant interaction between two main characters, it made no sense. Certainly many horror films have idiosyncracies and you the viewer must at a certain point just let go and enjoy but the material must rise above them to make this possible. This miniseries was also filmed in Australia and it's evident from the accents of the minor characters that something is amiss as their ill-fitting American accents occassionally slide all over the map. At one point, I wondered if one character had been changed to an Eastern European only to have her accent wander back to New England a few sentences later.

As for the cast, Donald Sutherland is brilliant in an over-the-top performance as the fey yet ominous Straker. He is easily the best part of the movie. Rob Lowe fares well as Ben Mears and Andre Braugher adds gravitas as Matt Burke. I also liked Samantha Mathis-where has she been hiding?-as Susan Norton and Dan Byrd as Mark Petrie, in a role that is closer to the book than the original film. Rutger Hauer was miscast, however, as Barlow in my opinion and as this is such an important part it's yet another flaw that fatally affects the movie. Overall, the second half somewhat redeems the first but this book is still waiting for better treatment.

(This DVD is well-made but contains no extras. Some deleted scenes might go a long ways toward rectifying the plot gaps but as it is the mystery of why this version had to reinvent a perfectly fine wheel will remain unsolved.)"

A Very Good Modern Adaptation Of A Classic Horror Tale!!

MUZIK4THAPEOPLE!! | Orlando, FL | 03/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember the original 1979 TV version of this modern gothic
vampire mini-series (starring David Soul) that was well-recieved
and scared the you-know-what out of me as a 15 yr old kid!!
So when TNT first aired this more modern version in 2004,
I was kinda skeptical and prejudiced towards it because
like a lot of people, I kind of hate it when studios of today
try to "remake" a classic of the past, because it usually doesn't
make the grade! I must say though, I was pleasantly suprised and
loved the way they implemented the newer technology for special effects which made it even more scary!
They also tweeked the original story as far as content,
giving it a more contemporary spin, even though it still
keeps its evil in a small town premise.
Rob Lowe and a stellar cast of good actors did an excellent job
in my opinion of bringing this tale to a new generation of short
attention span horror fans. Of course, there will be those who prefer
the original..which still has it's charm, though the special
effects are laughable looking at them through today's eyes!
All-N-All though, I would and did pay money to add this
to my DVD collection!"