Salem's Lot

2004 Directed by Mikael Salomon

In a small town, evil spreads quickly.

A dark terror has come to the picture-perfect town of Jerusalem's Lot, and it's up to a writer with a haunted past to uncover the horror that has taken over the town.

Robert Mammone Dan Byrd Christopher Morris Rob Lowe Andre Braugher Donald Sutherland Samantha Mathis Rutger Hauer James Cromwell

Alternative Titles

A Mansão Marsten, Salem's Lot - Brennen muss Salem, El misterio de Salem's Lot, Les vampires de Salem, Miasteczko Salem, El Misterio de Salem's Lot, 'Salem's Lot

drama

181 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Helen_S ★★★★½ 7

This takes a bit to get going but persevere and you will be treated to oodles of atmosphere, creepiness and tension galore, a great score and a stellar cast with Donald Sutherland providing some light relief. I do prefer the original but this is definitely one of the better remakes out there. Also the part when Floyd was squeezing through that teeny vent in the jail is just downright disturbing!
Review by Jason the Feature Creature ★★★

This version still doesn’t come close to the books’ brilliance but it’s still fun enough. The dialogue is all delivered like the actors are on 1.5x time and the effects are considerably cheesy. This adaptation still has things going for it though, Salomon creates a creepy atomosphere that establishes dread.
I don’t know if they needed more time or money, probably both, but this could have been so much more. The cast is considerably stacked but there isn’t enough time to tell this massive story in 3 hours.

Stephen King Ranked
Review by Geoffrey Broomer ★★

The 70s TV adaptation of Salem’s Lot is glaring in its decisions to hatchet its source material. Rather than the story of a town, it’s a voyeuristic slice of a few lives. Never fully displaying what any of the locals are going through, just minutes of each ordeal. I’ll admit to wanting to know the rest of those townspeople’s stories, but the ambiguous presentation added to a larger scope.
This version goes in the opposite direction.
Portraying itself as a faithful adaptation of the novel, though really just streamlining the narrative in a way that makes things feel neater while losing a lot of its charm. The largest loss is the horror - this film isn’t very scary. Some of…
Review by Pube ★½

"This movie is literally worse than that time Rob Lowe filmed himself fucking children" - Chris Traeger.
Review by Matt Curione ★

Absolutely dreadful. A three hour endurance test of terrible acting, bad effects, and none of the charm of the novel or the Tobe Hooper version to be found.
I rarely outright hate movies but this really pushed me to the brink. One star for a campy Donald Sutherland but nothing else.
Review by Isaac Thompson ★★★

Adaptations of Stephen King novels rarely possess the magic of his prose. With Salem's Lot, it's been attempted twice and, while they're both good, neither of them hit the mark entirely. This version, made for TV in 2004, doesn't quite match the creepy atmosphere of Tobe Hooper's 1979 TV version, but it does improve on it in some ways. Perhaps a great adaptation of the book lies somewhere between the two.
This one has a lot going for it, the cast is mostly great and, in some ways, it's closer to the novel. There are still arbitrary changes here and there, and the original does a better job matching the tone of the novel, but this one includes a lot…

Recent reviews

Review by Andy Nelson ★★★

It's interesting how new versions of adaptations often fix a lot of problems previous adaptations had while making a lot of new, strange choices that push it in directions far from the source material. I don't know why the filmmakers behind this film made some of the choices they did. I certainly understand the condensing of characters – Stephen King's stories have far too many characters for any sort of filmic telling. But to thrust new dilemmas into the plot that feel contrived just is peculiar to me, especially when they don't seem to add much.
I do appreciate the framing device, as roughly put together as it is, simply because it answers the question about what happened to the priest…
Review by Nick Simone ★★½

Stephen King-A-Thon 2020
Hones a little closer to the feel of the novel, but still not that great. I actually knew Lowe was in this before I started reading the book so that’s how I pictured Ben Mears the whole time. I do like how Barlow is depicted in this a lot better than the Hooper series, and there are actually a few pretty creepy vampire scenes. But it’s hard for this to shake tv movie sheen.
Once again multiple characters are omitted or combined with others, and the same goes for their storylines. This is obviously a symptom of how packed with threads the original novel is, but I didn’t love all of the ways in which this was accomplished. Also, the bookends of this version I felt were pretty stupid.
On the Shining next!
Review by Kelly ★★★

61/100
Although it's a pretty cringy capture of early 2000's hair and fashion, I did enjoy it a bit more than the 1979.
I knew going in that Rob Lowe was in it. Then saw Andre Braugher, then Donald Sutherland, and finally Rutger Hauer! This has a surprisingly good cast, but everyone here has put in much better performances. In Particular Rob Lowe's voiceover work is pretty emotionless. It sounds a bit like an audiobook reading, so maybe it was on purpose?
This version was a bit more faithful to the novel, but it had no teeth. A creepy or tense atmosphere was never built, not a bit of horror to it. Fans of Stephen King will appreciate it, but without a doubt both versions pale in comparison to the novel.
Review by Matt N. ★★★½

I remember watching this back when it came out with my girlfriend at the time who was obsessed with Stephen King stories. We tracked down some really obscure and poorly made stuff, which at the time wasn't easy to get hold of.
This is a considerable improvement over the 1979 version but still a middling adaptation of the book as a whole. This makes its own changes to the story but is largely more faithful to the book. I appreciated that this one fleshed out the town and its inhabitants, plus the pacing is much better. There's even a bit of an X-Files vibe.
This came out just on the verge of the "prestige TV" revolution and still holds over…
Review by ElVee426 ★★

I did it. I found something to break the high I was on from Uncut Gems.
0/5 Goggins
Review by algaemoon ★★

Salem's Lot as a book and a movie is like,,,,, so much set up and character introductions and then the actual vampire stuff doesn't start happening til close to the end. this movie is so long oh my god
Review by migh ★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

nah, not really mad on this one in the end. it looks like it could be promising at the beginning as we get to know the characters of the eponymous town of the piece and the wintry backdrop immediately elicits a few chills. then things start to drag and in the end there is little action and a whole lot of talking spread over the three hour running time, resulting in a bit of a snoozefest. there are a few decent scenes in there but i couldn't help be reminded of the 1979 Tobe Hooper version of the same story where similar scenes were somehow creepier and more effective. even Rutger Hauer as 'Barlow' doesn't bring anything all that special to the table and actually barely features in the film at all. a bit disappointing in the end this one; i think i'll stick with the 1979 version and the excellent book itself.
Review by Sam Corner ★½

Bruh this is so edgy it makes me wanna play some edgy music and buy some edgy clothes and tell people how edgy I am.
Vampires bro 🙌
Review by SebDaRoux

CONTEXT : watched during our 2019 Stephen King Marathon. Cut up in two parts & watched in two nights because it's a two part TV movie.
This remake is a little more on the "edgy" side of things, it's 2004 and Rob Lowe is emo. Donald Sutherland & Rutger Hauer chew the scenery and at least appear to have fun.
This was an enjoyable watch overall, ridiculous and over the top in places, just the way I like it.