Mike Ryerson's vampire visit to Burke. - Salem's Lot (2004) Discussion

[–] stellastey 14 years ago

I dont think he realised what he was yet or what had happened to him,and not all the vamps seemed evil.

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[–] RobsBottin 10 years ago

Exactly. It is presumed that vampires are evil, a notion that did not come across with the remake. If anything they are simply helpless victims of Barlow. What struck me was the final scene; Dozens of vampires eating rats and not humans, it seems to me that their desire is not to kill humans but to infect as many as possible, in other words to procreate!

If life is a process, all judgements are provisional.

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[–] allenm-01050 9 years ago

What you're referring to is a "modernized" attempt to remove the evilness away from vampires, thus making them marketable to a new audience.

Your use of the word procreate gives hints of an attempted twisting of the general and standard use of the word. Procreation and infection are diametrically unrelated terms. The humans were already created and were infected by vampirism.

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[–] jeffyoung1 12 years ago

As the mini-series seems to imply, was Matt Burke gay? The series played very coy on this. I got the impression that Burke was a closet gay or a man trying to suppress his inner desire. It made sense, living in a small, rural, and mostly conservative small town. If Matt Burke was living an alternative lifestyle, it would not be tolerated by the conservative townspeople.

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[–] jedimasterjeff2003 12 years ago

Actually the townspeople DID know Burke was gay and tolerated it "so long as he kept it out of the class room"...according to the opening monologue. I think he may have been attracted to Ryerson and vamp Ryerson played on that when he returned to Burke's home.

I am the Lizard King...i can do anything.

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[–] Mimapopaluck 12 years ago

Mike didn't realize he was dead. Remember Matt was saying to him 'You're dead, Mike'.

This scene was nothing compared to the original's Ryerson visit.

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[–] gary_overman 10 years ago

This scene was handled a lot better in the 1979 mini-series, IMO. There, it was closer to the book by far and truer to the folklore as well. According to my understanding of the folklore, vampires are evil from the moment of their 'un-death' if I can use that term.

In both the 1979 film and the novel, there was no bewilderment, no disorientation; Ryerson was evil from the first time he rose.

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[–] stones78 10 years ago

I disliked the jail scene in this film also; was a vampire squeezing through piping or something?

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[–] gary_overman 10 years ago

I disliked the jail scene in this film also; was a vampire squeezing through piping or something?

Looked like ventilation ducting to me.

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