5 Predictions for ‘Salem’s Lot’ 2022
The new Salem’s Lot movie is hitting cinemas on November 9th, and whilst we still wait for the new trailer to hit, we have conjured up a few predictions for the film based on the casting.
A Much Smaller Affair
Salem’s Lot is a story about a small town, one that is filled with lots of quirky characters that all eventually meet their doom at the hands of the vampiric curse working its way across the sleepy little township. The current list of characters shows that there film has picked but a small handful of the available folks that live in Salem’s Lot. Missing are characters such as Cully Sawyer, Weasel Craig, Dud Rogers and the McDougall family, and many more. Whilst most of these characters are not important to the flow of the story, their narratives add to the rich tapestry of ordinary small town life and the encroaching evil that threatens it. The novels first half sets up the towns fellowship, the second half destroys it. By creating a much smaller cast of characters, the new film may well not feel as impactful as the other iterations of the story. We also have to remember that this is Salem’s Lot very first cinema release, with previous versions being much longer TV adaptions.
Ruthie Crockett is the Gatekeeper
As terrifying as vampires are, they do tend to suffer from one embarrassing aliment, not being able to enter a building without an invite. In Stephen King’s novel, even Barlow suffers a little with this infliction, where he will not buy his way into the town, he has to be invited. Straker visits realtor and corrupt business man Larry Crockett, with a deal to swap an old launderette and the run down Marsten House in exchange for land worth millions. In the new film, Larry is missing from the cast roster and his replacement seems to be his daughter Ruthie. Ruthie has very little to do in the books apart from being an object of obsession for hunchbacked Dud Rogers. We can assume that as Dud is not in the film, that Ruth will be taking the role of gatekeeper in lieu of her farther.
Salem’s Lot Loses it’s Police Force
Parkins Gillespie is Salem’s Lot constable and one of the few people that actually survives the vampire outbreak. Parkins senses that something is very wrong in town and decides to pack his family up and leave. The 2022 movie looks set to side-line Gillespie. In fact the only named police officer is a completely new character called Officer Taylor, which we can assume will play a role outside of the main story in town. If this was a cop in town, they would have surely used Gillespie or his deputy Nolly Gardener.
Bloody Pirate Flash Back
I’m not a big fan of flashbacks, so it worries me that the new film will be diving into this territory to tell a story that could have easily have been done without. The story in question will be Ben Mears adventure inside the Marsten house when he was a kid. In the original 1975 film, Ben shared his story, to great effects, over a beer with Jason Burke. The 2004 remake delved into flash back territory, with a blurry bright orange filter, that completely ruined any tension the scene had. That fact the a young Ben Mears and a “Pirate Kid” will be showing means that we’ll be making the same mistake the 2004 film did. Or maybe the film will start with Mears visit to the Marsten house and fast forward?
William Sadler will be Barlow
We’ve said it since the start, there is simply no way that William Sadler will be anything but Kurt Barlow , the head vampire of the story, in this film. Whether that be a new version of the Reggie Nalder blue vampire from the 79 version, or a moustachioed talking Barlow from the books, it looks like Sadler will be filling in the fangs for the lead antagonist, as Barlow is the only character yet to be listed, and Sadler the only actor without a character.
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Salem’s Lot, the novel presents a slow building up of a vampire plague infecting a small American town. Characterization is key. Good people that turn into monsters. Much like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Take this emotion away u spoil the film. In the novel we care very much about the heroine. When she was taken with horrific style the loss is terrifying and sad. We boo the monster cheer the hero. Just do the book but make sure all characters even bad ones r 3 demential and sound.
I am a huge fan of the novel. And I dont feel that it has been properly done by either film adaption. The first was ok, and the second was a travesty. So I have really high hopes for this one and I am hoping it does not become a third let down! I admit Im a little worried reading about some of the changes here, but will still see it with an open mind.