TV Mini Series Review Salems Lot

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1975’s Salem’s Lot was Stephen King’s second horror novel, and among the first to introduce the vampire into the 20th century rather than have him operating from some secluded, isolated Gothic castle in Eastern Europe. It was an epic novel, of a town in Maine, plagued and decimated by the vampire menace. In 1979, Tobe Hooper, who went on to create Gremlins and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, made an epic three hour long two part mini-series. It started David Soul as Ben, the writer turned reluctant vampire Hunter, James Mason, as Straker, the half-vampire antiques dealer, and the extremely sinister, nasty Nosferatu, Barlow, played silently by Reggie Nalder, who apparently really suffered from the blue make up and contact lenses needed for the role. Barlow looks much more human in the novel. The show has some genuinely creepy moments, child vampires hovering outside mist shrouded windows, and in one case, killing a grave digger in his own grave. James Mason is great in his role, bemused yet also menacing, capturing people and setting them out like a banquet meal for Barlow. The master vampire really steal the show though, even before we see him properly. His crate moves by itself when being delivered to Straker’s Marsten House (itself presented as a very unsettling old mansion with a history of evil). We next see the crate in splinters where Barlow has escaped. David Soul s very different from his singing and Starskey & Hutch performances (he was Hutch). He goes from mild mannered writer to angry determined vampire killer, doomed to stake even the woman he loves. The series was later issued as a movie, but with an hour chopped out, rendering it less credible a narrative. A lame sequel and a modestly successful remake followed. The full TV cut remains a great horror viewing experience. Arthur Chappell