Last updated on October 17th, 2024 at 05:16 am
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Haunted by an incident from his childhood, author Ben Mears returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover the town is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire and his loyal servant.
After many delayed release dates, THR reports that the film is now officially going straight to HBO Max later this year. No release date has been given yet, but a “fourth quarter release is likely.” (3/12/24)
Originally set for a September 9, 2022 then a April 21, 2023 theatrical release.
Actor Lewis Pullman spoke highly of the film in a recent interview, saying: “It’s a scary thing doing these remakes, man. It’s like, this and [Top Gun: Maverick], there’s such pressure, it’s a hard concoction to conjure up to make it successful. But Gary Dauberman, the director, is really keen on doing justice to the book. But also, the previous adaptation was a two-parter, because it’s such a hefty book and there are so many different moving parts and so many characters. So there are some parts where Gary had to press and find what was really at the heart of the movie to keep in, but for the most part, he’s really true to the book and keeping a lot of the original dialogue in there. He’s a Stephen King hound dog so he doesn’t wanna do Stephen dirty.” He added… “So I think it’s in good hands, Gary’s a really smart guy who has a keen eye for things. I think, not just lean on the jump scares, but lean on the more conceptual and visual things that, rather than a shock that fades out of your body in the next five minutes, something that’s more visual, like an imprint that burnt into your retinas as a disturbing image that you’ll wake up in the middle of the night that you can’t shake out of your head.” (11/3/22)
Filmed in Boston.
The film’s storyline is said to be set in 1975.
Jordan Preston Carter plays “Mark Petrie, a 12-year old boy who becomes a key member of the group fighting the evil.”
Nicholas Crovetti plays “Danny Glick, who becomes the town’s first vampire and helps turn other townspeople into bloodsuckers.”
Cade Woodward plays “Ralph Glick, his brother who mysteriously (well, maybe not so mysteriously) disappears.”
John Benjamin Hickey plays “Father Callahan.”
Pilou Asbæk plays “Richard Straker, the vampire’s familiar who prepares for the arrival of his master and does plenty of dirty work.”
Alfre Woodard plays “Dr. Cody, who in the novel is a guy, Dr. Jimmy Cody. Cody assists Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman in the film), Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh) and Matt Burke (Bill Camp) in fighting the spread of vampires.”
Makenzie Leigh plays Susan Norton, who in the book “is a resident of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. Ben and her eventually fall in love, and she has a knowledge of the vampires in town.”
Bill Camp plays Matthew Burke, who is “a former high school English teacher who knows about the Marten’s House evil past and helps out Ben.”
Spencer Treat Clark plays Mike Ryerson, who is “one of the town’s simple folk and becomes a victim to the events at hand.”
Lewis Pullman (son of actor Bill Pullman, and has starred in films like The Strangers: Prey at Night, Bad Times at the El Royale) stars as the lead, Ben Mears.
Co-produced by James Wan.
Written and directed by Gary Dauberman (Annabelle, It, The Nun).
Based on the book by Stephen King, which was turned into a TV-movie in 1979 by director Tobe Hooper. The film received a weirdly comedic sequel in 1987, then remade as a mini-series in 2004 starring Rob Lowe.
Salem’s Lot premiered on Max on October 3, 2024.
Warner Bros. UK & Ireland released Salem’s Lot in Cinemas in the UK and Ireland on October 11, 2024.
Director: Gary Dauberman
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