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The closest I’ve come to reading Stephen King’s early novel, “Salem’s Lot”, was the short story prequel called “Jerusalem’s Lot”. I read it in his collection, “Night Shift”. However, I’ve always wanted to read his novel about a vampire-infested New England town but have not been able to find an edition that I cared to purchase. (Yes, I’m picky when it comes to editions of certain books, mostly due to their cover illustrations.) But now that a big screen movie adaptation of “Salem’s Lot” is in the works, I feel more eager to read any edition I can get my hands on. A TV series of the prequel short story is also in the plan.
'Salem’s Lot': The Movie
Gary Dauberman has been chosen to direct the new “Salem’s Lot” movie. Prior to that, he had already written a draft of the screenplay, according to “Science Fiction”. “Science Fiction” also says he will serve as executive producer too. Dauberman has written screenplays for many of the “The Conjuring” movies, particularly the “Annabelle” installments. He also wrote for the two “It” theatrical films (“It” and “It: Chapter II”) which were also based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. As of this writing, production and release dates for “Salem’s Lot” are unknown.This will not be the first time Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” will be adapted to film. In fact, it was made into a two-part TV movie twice: once in 1979 and again in 2004. The first adaptation was eventually “re-edited into a shorter, international theatrical version,” according to an article at “Screen Rant”. Also, a big screen sequel, titled “A Return To Salem’s Lot”, was released in 1987 in a limited selection of theatres even though it had been intended for a direct-to-video premiere. Aside from the name, however, it seemed to have no connection to the original movie. An article at "Comic Book Resources" (CBR) states that the movie “bears no resemblance to its predecessor.”
A clip from the 1979 movie adaptation of Stephen King's "Salem's Lot".
I’ve never seen either TV version of “Salem’s Lot” and don’t really plan to. I’m not into TV movies since they always seem to come across to me as extended television episodes. I haven’t seen the so-called sequel. (In fact, I only found out about it today when researching the films.) Because I’m not a fan of TV movies, I was delighted to find out that a big screen version of Stephen King’s novel will be made. So, that version I would go see whenever it comes out. Hopefully movie theatres will reopen by then and this pandemic will have lifted. If not, well, there may be a revived drive-in showing it. And if there isn’t? Well then at least it will have been made for the big screen and so in that case I’ll be okay watching it streamed or on DVD.
TV Series of the Prequel
It was also recently announced that a TV-series based on the short story, “Jerusalem’s Lot”, the prequel to “Salem’s Lot”, is being made for the video streaming service, EPIX. This new horror TV series will be titled “Chapelwaite” and will star Adrien Brody (“King Kong”) and Emily Hampshire. It will consist of 10-episodes Unlike “Salem’s Lot” the novel, which was set in modern times (the time of its publication, the 1970s), the short story is set in the 19th century. The synopsis: a gentleman moves into his ancestral estate to discover that the adjunct, long-abandoned village of Jerusalem’s Lot contains a dreadful curse. “Deadline” states that the series is planned for a Fall 2020 premiere.As I’ve never been a fan of TV movies, I’ve never been a fan of TV series based on books. I personally don’t see this series going anywhere much. I mean, how far can you take a TV series based on a story not much more than 30 pages? I think I would be impressed with a series of this type much less than I would with the many TV series based on entire novels such as “The Haunting of Hill House”. The adaptation of novels into TV series is so overrated. A lot of great books out there that television producers have been exploiting with this trend can be made into really great movies. Now, if this prequel story were to first be made into a full-length feature film then producers may be able to use that as source material to better develop a TV series. If that were the case, then I wouldn’t mind checking it out.
Stephen King has become more popular than ever with his work. Many of his works more or less recently being adapted into TV series, such as “The Mist”, has helped him gain a new generation of fans while continuing the devotion of his older ones. Surely, both the new “Salem’s Lot” movie and its prequel TV series, “Chapelwaite”, will help continue the fan-following and perhaps even increase it.
What do you think about a new "Salem's Lot" movie? What about a TV series based on the prequel short story, "Jerusalem's Lot"?
Until next time . . .
I was a young teen when the first Salem's Lot came out and it scared the crap out of me. It would look really dated now, but it is worth a watch. I'm curious if this latest remake will be as effective.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that it was really scary. I think the scene with the teenage vampire at the window is the only part that I remember when my dad was watching it when I was a kid. I don't remember being creeped out by it though because I don't think I watched the whole movie. I sometimes wonder, though, if the 1980s movie The Lost Boys used that seen as an idea for one of the teen vampires that appeared at the window of one of the kids (the main character, I don't remember his name).
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