Salems Lot

by Bill
(MI, US)

My favorite vampire movie of all vampire movies would be Salem’s Lot, the 1979 made for TV movie. Based on a novel by Stephen King, it scared the hell out of me when I was a kid and I still watch it occasionally.

The character Ben Mears (played by David Soul) seemed to be a compelling one to me. The way he talks about his childhood experience in the town and relates that with the arrival of the old man Sraker held my attention.

Also Srakers talk about the soon-to-arrive Mr Barlow had a nice touch to it. Most of the events that happen in the town seem to be casual and bring some authenticity to the plot.

The horror aspect and visual effects were spooky as hell.

The scene where the child vampire floats up to the window and scratches it gave me major goose bumps.

There’s a scene where the cemetery worker jumps down on the coffin of a boy who was bitten. He gets bitten and later shows up in an old mans house in a rocking chair.

The acting in that scene was hair-raising and masterfully done. Slowly but surly the entire town seems to fall to the wrath of Mr Barlow and they all turn into vampires.

Near the end of this vampire movie there were some memorable scenes.

We finally saw what Mr Barlow looks like and it was bone chilling to me. The part in Salems Lot where Barlow was unaffected by the crucifix and throws it to the floor seemed like the start of a trend in vampire movies.

Ben Mears, along with a surviving boy finally kills Barlow in the basement of the old house.

Some of the towns folks turned vampire were down there which made me sit on the edge of my seat.

The final scene of the movie is where Mears and the boy leave Salems Lot and are still on the run in Mexico.

Ben is forced to kill a women turned vamp, who he had a romantic relationship with in Salems Lot.

In my view Salems Lot was a new kind of vampire movies at the time and broke some rules of the genre.