Salem's Lot (1979)

Salem’s Lot (1979)

• Although technically a miniseries, I watched the three hour feature length formatted version of this. I think that’s the way it is on both Max and DVD. You can definitely feel the runtime, because you are watching several episodes all back to back. But, this movie is no doubt a classic and one of the most iconic pieces of vampire media. It makes me want to read the novel now. On that note, I couldn’t tell you about how accurate this is to the novel, but just based on seeing this, it was pretty good and definitely isn’t rushed. It focuses more on characters rather than action or fighting, which I liked. It almost has a ‘Twin Peaks’ feel in terms of characters and investigating events. There’s a slow build up to the main climax with Mr. Barlow, and all the events leading up to that were laid out well. The characters were good, the acting was more solid than I was expecting, and the design of Mr. Barlow is absolutely terrifying. He’s on the same level as Nosferatu and Dracula in my book. Overall, this movie was fun, intriguing, mysterious, and sometimes pretty corny (but epic). It’s not one I’d watch again, just because of how long it is, but it was a very entertaining one time watch. I’d recommend it to most horror fans. This film is officially Berry Approved, so go watch it now!