‘Salem’s Lot’ Review

Gary Dauberman has had a successful career writing generic, mainstream horror movies, having worked on the ‘Annabelle’ and ‘The Nun’ franchises. He even has experience with Stephen King adaptations before, having written both parts of Andy Muschietti’s ‘It’. With ‘Salem’s Lot’, his second directorial effort, Dauberman has delivered a film as generic and CGI-laden as his previous scripts, failing to deliver the scares of the Stephen King novel or the Tobe Hooper directed miniseries from 1979.

‘Salem’s Lot’ opens in the small Maine town of Jerusalem’s Lot, as Richard Straker (Pilou Asbæk) gives delivery instructions for a mysterious crate to be dropped off at the long abandoned, infamous Marsten House.

At the same time, famed writer Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returns to his hometown to research a new book, quickly falling in love with Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), a local realtor with dreams of moving on to bigger and better things in the city.

After a child goes missing, we learn what Mr. Straker’s mystery box contained: a master vampire named Barlow (Alexander Ward). The first character to suspect the presence of vampires in the town is local school teacher Matt Burke (Bill Camp), who, when he suspects vampires and that he might be in danger, does the only logical thing and calls not the police or anybody with authority, no, but the writer Ben Mears. The existence of vampires is then, mostly, just accepted by all of our main characters without question. The lone exception here being Alfre Woodard’s Dr. Cody, who demands some level of proof before believing.

The film from this point forward is a mess. The character relationships and motivations are never really developed, leaving the drama feeling empty. Nobody, human or vampire, has much of a personality. When we finally see the vampires up close, the result is not fear so much as disappointment with the lackluster CGI. When given the opportunity, almost every character chooses the worst decision imaginable. Why are people constantly putting themselves in danger, like sprinting out of a safe church into the night, while they know vampires are hunting them?

Bill Camp and Alfre Woodard lend this film some gravitas, both actors doing their best to elevate the weak characters. They bring authority to their roles as school teacher and doctor respectively, trying to understand and deal with the ominous changes affecting their quaint town.

I wish I could praise the rest of the acting as much. As the lead couple, Lewis Pullman and Makenzie Leigh are completely devoid of charm and chemistry. Pullman specifically acts with distracting facial affectations, as if he is chewing invisible tobacco. Where these two actors lack charisma, Pilou Asbæk and Debra Christofferson overact to a hilarious degree. There is no subtlety or nuance to their facial reactions or their dialogue readings. Every single moment with them is LOUD.

I need to hedge my bets critiquing these performances though, as it’s not like the script of the direction is doing the cast any favors. Dauberman’s inexperience as a director may play a role, even though there are some positive moments, like the way he shoots the first abduction sequence, with the two children in silhouette as they walk through a shortcut in the woods. Or all the clever uses of mirrors and reflections, or lack thereof. But the tension is never really built, as the film relies on lazy jump scares over legitimate, well-constructed dread. Though this lack of true horror leads to some unintentionally hilarious moments, such as when Susan and Ben are trying to tape together two tongue compressors to make a cross, and we hear Susan yell out “It’s not working!” What’s not working, Susan? The tape?

The most interesting aspect of the novel’s horror is touched on only briefly, when Sheriff Gillespie (William Sadler) is stopped as he tries to flee the town, and explains his idea that vampires have come to their town because it’s already dying, that industry and morality have gone long ago and that vampires are the next logical punishment. But this throwaway line would have much more power if the film otherwise cared about these deeper themes, if we saw a town on the verge of collapse, if we understood the battle between faith and doubt that can tear apart a community. But that’s boring, so let’s cut to the next cool jump scares instead.

Salem’s Lot
Rated R for bloody violence and language.
Running Time: 1 hour and 53 minutes

Director Gary Dauberman
Writers Gary Dauberman
Stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, John Benjamin Hickey, Bill Camp,
Rating R
Running Time 113 Minutes
Genres Horror, Thriller