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Review for Salem's Lot

posted 8 years ago by JigsawX (265)
2 replies | jump to latest

(Originally posted on fight-evil.com)

Here's a little secret for you all: so far in my horror movie viewing, I've not yet seen the original Salem's Lot. I've been meaning to, but it's never happened. What I have seen twice is this 2004 adaptation, starring Rob Lowe (of The West Wing fame). And overall, I am pretty pleased with it.

Many of the characters are enjoyable, and the acting is solid; toward the end, the little vampire-killing group was enjoyable to observe, though I wish they were seen together a few more times than they were. It's a long movie, much like the original (both over two hours, I believe), but I was quite happy with what I saw.

Oh, there's the occasional subplot or scene that didn't do much for me, but those were far outweighed by stuff I enjoyed. Andre Braugher's character, Matt Burke, for example, was a fine character, and not overly likable either. The ending was somewhat reminiscent of Fright Night, where they go to the main house and hope to finish the vampires off, which was sort of fun. I've no major complaints, really, and I feel this is worth a watch, despite the changes they made from King's original novel. 8/10.

[–] Strannger (2007) 8 years ago

I respect your view. While iike the Mardeston house addition and the dirty secrets from the townspeople being explored here. My concerns come from the way they used special effects for the vampires instead of a hideous prostatic. The acting was wooden in a few areas, Rob Rowe, wasn't my first choice as Ben and didn't really get the horror of the situation across. To calm. Also I felt that Barlow was another run of the mill vampire. He played the master in the Buffy movie and it was very underwhelming both times. I can say that a few shots were indeed impressing, but it lacked the flair of the original.

[–] JigsawX (265) 8 years ago

No doubt I'll enjoy the original more - the fact that David Soul is in it alone makes me rather eager to see it. Still, even though this was a television movie (TNT, if I recall), I thought they did well on the budget they had.

Thanks for the comment, friend.