Delayed Stephen King Remake Heading To Max, First Look Revealed

This new Salem’s Lot is coming courtesy of director Gary Dauberman, who has previous horror experience directing Annabelle Comes Home and writing for The Nun and the It movies. He is also a writer and executive producer for Salem’s Lot, so this is certainly his biggest project to date.

It is unclear why Salem’s Lot experienced so many delays in being released, but some good news in the film being finished for so long is that it has already been screened by a few noteworthy people, including the author behind the novel, Stephen King himself. King gave the film his approval on X earlier in the year, saying he thinks horror fans will really enjoy it.

“I’ve seen the new Salem’s Lot and it’s quite good,” said King. “Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything.”

Stephen King has a reputation for not being one to give out fake praise to adaptations of his work if he genuinely did not care for them. He infamously disagreed with so many choices Stanley Kubrick made for the film adaptation of The Shining that King did his own version of it as a TV miniseries. So if King is complimenting Salem’s Lot, it is most likely quite faithful to his novel.

This version of Salem’s Lot will be set during 1975, when the book was published. The first adaptation of Salem’s Lot did not take long to get made, coming out in 1979. Since then, it has not been touched that much beyond a miniseries that came out in 2004. However, with vampires back to being popular monsters through projects like the Interview with the Vampire TV show, perhaps that was the catalyst for the movie finally getting a release date.

With Salem’s Lot having less than two months before it is released, the full cast has already been revealed. It includes the likes of Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, Jordan Preston Carter, William Sadler, John Benjamin Hickey, Bill Camp, and Debra Christofferson.

For those unfamiliar with the premise of Salem’s Lot, it focuses on an author who is trying to find inspiration for his next story, so he returns to his hometown, which he has been avoiding due to traumatic memories from when he was a kid. But when he arrives, he soon realizes his memories are not just distorted interpretations of a child. He finds proof that the town of Jerusalem’s Lot is home to a vampire that is preying on its denizens, and he resolves to destroy it.

First images of Salem’s Lot were also released this week, showing glimpses of the vampire stoking fear in its victims. While some may be disappointed they won’t be able to enjoy the film in theaters, it is still a relief to see that the movie will finally be getting a release. Horror fans now have a classic Stephen King adaptation to look forward to this Halloween.

Source: Vanity Fair