Salem's Lot - 2024

Agent Coulson

Drops on Max on October 3rd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtVzKkv03ic&ab_channel=Max

MfMan

Hmm.. seems a bit maxed out. Part of the TV series cachet was that it was pared back and minimalised - it let your imagination do a good bit of the work.

Azatadine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122609992#Comment_122609992

Damn thing .....true.....took me a long time to get over the '79 mini series. I saw it when I was a kid on RTE in the early 80's and it scared the hell out of me.

Marty Bird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610024#Comment_122610024

same here. I can still hear them scratching at the window. Open the window..

fran38

No Mr Barlow in that trailer? Looks like your generic jump scare vamp tv series. But ill give it a chance.

Azatadine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610131#Comment_122610131

Scared the absolute heart out of me. Didn't sleep probably for months.....still gives me the creeps to look at it now, I suspect due to some kind of PTSD from that time LOL.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610024#Comment_122610024

Same, James Mason scared the bejesus out of me

fatbhoy

See, that's the thing, most people who saw the original were kids at the time, or at least quite young, so a combination of that and the fact that it took less to scare people generally years ago leave a profound effect on those people, as it did me. So when I saw it for the second time as an adult, a few years ago, it didn't scare me at all, and most of the enjoyment I got from it was from a sense of nostalgia. In fact, a lot of it was disappointing because I would have preferred to have left those memories of the original viewing as they were, rather than sit through bad special effects etc..

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610417#Comment_122610417

When was it shown on rte in the 80s?

Was it the summer of 86 or 87 maybe?

Or was it shown a few times maybe?

Azatadine

I think I saw it on RTE in 1981 or so? Maybe 1982 at the latest. Could have been repeated later too.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610467#Comment_122610467

I saw it very late 80s/early 90s I think on RTE which could have been a repeat

orangerhyme

I think I saw a repeat in 86 or ,87.

Scared the bejesus out of me.

CastorTroy

I only got through the book for the first time recently and was planning on watching one of the adaptations. there was also a Rob Lowe version in 2004.

May just wait for this movie but I'm sure since it's less than 2 hours long and going by the trailer there is a lot of focus on vampires, a lot will be cut.

ErnestBorgnine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610494#Comment_122610494

Was repeated in July 1989 if i recall correctly

fritzelly

Well that was an abomination - seems lots were cut out with scene changes all over the place making absolutely no continuity sense and the ending was just laughable. James Mason would be turning in his grave

Like above watched the tv series as a kid, scared the crap out of me especially the window scratching and when the kid sits up in the coffin.
Anyone considering watching this forget it, just watch the original

JamBur

I saw the TV series as a child, and I truly think it traumatized me. That scene where a character in the attic and opens coffins left me unable to go into my parents attic!! Plus the nails on the window! CHRIST

Im sure watching it now would have me laughing. As a child, Nightmare on Elm Street (blood fountain from being sucked into the bed) and Gremilns (look under the bed before you sleep line) had me scared. I was too young to watch them.

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122691559#Comment_122691559

Watched it there a few months ago and while not as scary as an adult it still holds up pretty well

Phat Cat

I saw the original mini series back in the late 80's and it seriously traumatize me, especially the scene with the rocking chair in the doctors house and of course the kid vampire scratching the window.

I haven't watched the new one yet but latest one was supposed to be a 3 hour movie and a huge chunk of it got cut back which included the original opening. Hopefully there'll be a directors cut in the future.

https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3834421/gary-daubermans-initial-salems-lot-cut-was-three-hours-long-and-included-marsten-house-opening/

SVI40

I remember it well. Also scared the fcuk out of me back then.

gossamerfabric

I watched the new one for the Nostalgia. Nothing offensive about it. Competently made. Lead actors were fine.

Adjust your expectations and it is a perfectly OK movie.

Snake Plisken

As a kid I was a big Dracula fan of the book and the Christopher Lee Hammer movies. We only had RTE 2 channels when growing up and I remember RTE had the mini series on over two nights my God I could not believe what I was watching it was terrifying yet I could not get enough of it. It was brilliant for a young kid like me and many more by the looks of it. It actually got me into Stephen King I had to read the novel and couldn't get enough of his books growing up.

I have watched the Tobe Hooper classic a number of times and it still stands up as great in my eyes. A great score and the cast is excellent from David Soul, James Mason to Reggie Nalder's Barlow. The perfect adaptation in my eyes.

Onto this adaptation which has been rumoured to be a bit of a disaster and apparently they were going to write it off for tax purposes like they did with Batgirl. So I thought this was ok the cast where fine but there is just no way to tell this story in a two hour movie you can tell lots of scenes have been cut out of it apparently Director's original cut was 3 hours long maybe we will see it someday.

I think we really need an 8 hour series made by someone who does King right someone like Mike Flannigan to really do Salem's Lot justice. Maybe someday we will get something that gets close to the great mini series back in 1979 that scared the hell out of us 80's kids.

fran38

Saw it earlier tonight. Got so bored with it after 30 minutes I fast forward to the end. Crazy bad movie.

Sugarlumps

The original is a classic, someone mentioned the cast/score. I agree still stands up will have to watch over Halloween.

archfi

As with most everyone else, the original in '79 scared the absolute shít out of me.

Phat Cat

I watched this new version tonight and I thought it was awful. It felt far too rushed with very little character development and the CGI looked cheap, like something from a video game.

The 70's mini series was far superior, which is a shame as I was was really looking forward to this and thought it would be similar to the IT remake. TBH it feels like a missed opportunity

conorhal

Any film that's sat on the shelf for 3 years and undergone multiple reshoots is just a big red flag in terms of quality and screams avoid at all costs, especially if you have a hint of nostalgia for the the book or original mini-series.

ancapailldorcha

5.7 on IMDB. Normally, I only attach minor importance to such things but I think I'd rather read the book in this instance.

_CreeD_

An excellent homegrown review imho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2j7piWA4OE

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122709607#Comment_122709607

King also is just inherently difficult to adapt out of his short stories. It's very hard to make a horror into a character study when the original material had most of this going on in the character's heads. I never tend to get excited about his stuff being made into a film unless it's something made by Darabont.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122711234#Comment_122711234

Good point. I really don't like the film adaptation of The Shining as I'd read the book first. I think you hit the nail on the head there.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122711247#Comment_122711247

I tend to view The Shining as almost standalone. Too much of the backstory goes missing but similar happens with all Kubrick adaptations and I can't really object to a director fully making something their own. But faithful adaptation wise, it's the likes of Stand By Me and The Mist IMHO.

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122695766#Comment_122695766

Yeah I would agree, I thought it was ok.

Cast was decent alright (Bill Camp and Alfre Woodard always worth watching). Some decent individual scenes as well.

It just felt very rushed overall and jumped around a lot, maybe it is better suited to the runtime for a mini series.

The guy who directed this has wrote the remake of last train to busan...hmmm

I love Stephen King but the hit rate for his adaptations is generally really poor and there are a lot lot more on the way. The Life Of Chuck looks promising (good early reviews) then again that one has Mike Flanagan directing and writing (with King).

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712539#Comment_122712539

Last Train to Busan is such a great movie (shame about the sequel) he can only do a worse version of it - may go rewatch it later

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712584#Comment_122712584

Yeah peninsula wasn't great.

I really doubt a remake could top it, also seems to have been swirling about for a long time which isn't a great sign (also see Salem's lot!).

conorhal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122711247#Comment_122711247

Stephen King's adaption if The Shining is…. an interesting mini series…

Anybody that's seen Maximum Overdrive or Sleepwalkers (both great to watch half-cut, 'so bad it's good' movies) knows that even Stephen King has trouble adapting Stephen King stories to the screen without them coming off as laughably stupid.

Banjaxed82

That was pretty mediocre stuff altogether. Obviously hacked to bits in the edit. A lot of actors seemed to be playing the characters like they were in different movies.

Lewis Pullman has something alright. Very watchable, even in this nonsense.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610199#Comment_122610199

Me too! My Dad let me watch it one night when my Mam was out, and she was furious when she found out. How did she find out? Me waking up screaming with nightmares of vampire children trying to climb in my window. She made my Dad sit in my bedroom with me every time it happened (and it went on for a long time). The original still creeps me out completely, I don't know what it was about it, but it stuck.

The White Wolf

I didn't know about the delay in release before hand, but when I saw Homelander's kid in the film as still a kid, before his growth spurt in the latest season of The Boys, it rang alarm bells.

I haven't much more to add than what's been said already; good cast, but rushed with chunks missing, which obviously would have been better treated as a miniseries. I felt the same about The Many Saints of Newark as another comparison to an ill thought out HBO production.

I'm starting to think streaming has fucked up all sense of what an well oiled production is meant to be.