New Stephen King Movie Is Now the Most-Watched Release on HBO’s Max: “Big payoff”
One of the most-anticipated Stephen King adaptations of the past several years has arrived. Gary Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot recently premiered on the streaming service Max after years of delays. First filmed in 2021, Salem’s Lot release was rattled around like vampire bones in a coffin. Reshoots were ordered in 2022, and in March of this year, Warner Bros. announced their plans to forgo a theatrical release and premiere Salem’s Lot on Max instead.
Fans were reasonably skeptical about the movie’s quality, though good, bad, or vampirically indifferent, Salem’s Lot has nonetheless managed to reach Number One on the Max charts.
Per Max: In this adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, an author returns to his hometown…only to discover it’s being preyed upon by vampires.
Filmmaker Gary Dauberman is no stranger to Stephen King adaptations. The Annabelle Comes Home director previously helped script both It and It: Chapter 2, two of the most critically and commercially successful King adaptations of all time. I’m not quite sure what went wrong with Salem’s Lot and why it took so long to release, though even Stephen King himself was at one point incredulous, unsure as to why Warner Bros. was holding it back.
Between you and me, Twitter, I've seen the new SALEM'S LOT and it's quite good. Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it's embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the fucking things.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 19, 2024
While Stephen King was a fan of the adaptation, the critical response was less kind. In his two-star review for Dread Central, Josh Korngut wrote, “Despite its occasional scares and striking style, this adaptation lacks any of the terror or emotional depth of its Stephen King source material.”
Salem’s Lot definitely feels its age and extensive reshoots. For every moment of inspiration, there’s the gnawing sense that someone focus-grouped the movie to death, desperate to make it as palatable to as wide an audience as possible, even at the expense of King’s trademark style.
I was more positive than most of my peers. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a successful adaptation—that honor still belongs to Tobe Hooper’s original 1979 miniseries—but this new iteration of the lot is certainly visually striking, and King’s source material remains strong enough to compensate for those extended beats of horror familiarity. Really, it’s Stephen King done in the style of Annabelle. That might work for you, but if you’re grabbing a cross of your own to ward off that sentence, that’s really all you need to know.
Still, despite the mixed reactions, Salem’s Lot is a chart-topper. I want to know what you think, though. How does Salem’s Lot compare to the miniseries? Is it a worthy Stephen King adaptation? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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