Salem’s Lot

• Also known as Salem’s Lot: The Movie, Salem’s Lot: The Miniseries, and Blood Thirst
• Directed by Tobe Hooper
• November 17 to November 24, 1979
• CBS
• Based on the 1975 horror novel Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Series Cast

• Ben Mears-David Soul
• Richard Straker-James Mason
• Mark Petrie-Lance Kerwin
• Susan Norton-Bonnie Bedelia
• Jason Burke-Lew Ayres
• Bill Norton-Ed Flanders
• Larry Crockett-Fred Willard
• Bonnie Sawyer-Julie Cobb
• Constable Parkins Gillespie-Kenneth McMillan
• Mike Ryerson-Geoffrey Lewis
• Ned Tebbets-Barney McFadden
• Eva Miller-Marie Windsor
• Ann Norton-Bonnie Bartlett
• Cully Sawyer-George Dzundza
• Gordon “Weasel” Phillips-Elisha Cook Jr.
• Marjorie Glick-Clarissa Kaye
• Henry Glick-Ned Wilson
• June Petrie-Barbara Babcock
• Ted Petrie-Joshua Bryant
• Father Callahan-James Gallery
• Kurt Barlow-Reggie Nalder
• Danny Glick-Brad Savage
• Ralphie Glick-Ronnie Scribner

A writer returns to his hometown and discovers that its citizens are slowly being turned into vampires.

For much of my life televised horror has never been that good. It’s not until very recent that you could consistently expect quality material. There were a few bright spots here and there such as the original Twilight Zone which succeeded often in disturbing. The X-Files most notably the episode home which still ranks as one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen on television. And then there was Salem’s Lot. Not gore filled, but more intense and more unsettling than just about anything that could be found on television in 1979.

David Soul plays Ben Mears who is the prodigal son returning to his titular hometown. Being an author, he intends to write a book involving a local structure known as the Marsten House which has a reputation for being haunted and just generally evil. Considering what the story might be is never mentioned and the whole pretense gets mostly forgotten after the first hour I do not know why this element was needed. Coming back home and revisiting things from your childhood is enough to get the ball rolling.

Despite being widowed about a year, Ben looks to be ready to get back in the dating pool because he starts putting the moves on young Susan Norton (Bonnie Bedelia). She’s the love interest to give Ben motivation but as a character she’s a little two dimensional. And that would be okay if she featured a little less in the miniseries but because she’s a love interest and a bit of a sounding board for Ben she gets a lot of screen time.

James Mason is the face of evil as Richard Straker though not the actual evil. Mason makes Straker creepy and maybe a little unsettling just by acting alone. That is talent. He’s probably one of the more disturbing things in the film based solely on his delivery of dialogue and mere screen presence. He is paving the way for his master.

What’s unusual for Straker (at least for the era) is the implication of homosexuality and that not being played for comedic purposes. A central figure that’s quite possibly gay in something serious from 1979 television? Attitudes were changing but they were not like they are today. What I’m not sure of is if he actually IS gay. It’s certainly an explanation that would draw few questions in any time period. Though if he is not then why does he do what he does? He is just a normal person and does not look to be in perpetual thrall to his master.

Speaking of the master he is referred to as Kurt Barlow (Reggie Nalder) but rarely seen. The character is perhaps one of the best examples of horror make up-or inhuman prosthetics-from around that time. Simple yet undeniably effective. It’s human yet inhuman enough. It communicates evil.

It helps that there is talent up and down the cast list. Aside from David Soul, James Mason, and Bonnie Bedelia, there is Lew Ayres as Jason Burke, Fred Willard as Larry Crockett, Kenneth McMillan as Constable Parkins Gillespie, Geoffrey Lewis as Mike Ryerson, Bonnie Bartlett as Ann Norton, George Dzundza as Cully Sawyer, Elisha Cook Jr. as Gordon “Weasel” Phillips, Clarissa “Mrs. James Mason” Kaye as Marjorie Glick, and Barbara Babcock as June Petrie. Maybe not huge names but all very talented. Necessary for overcoming limitations of the time.

Tobe Hooper secured his place in filmed horror with the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This certainly deserves to be right up there with it. It’s a different animal though. Limited by TV censors, so much is implied rather than displayed. You mind ends up creeping you out because of what you think and not what you see. He crafted an atmosphere of dread and foreboding and just unease.

Normally I have issues with the ending that does not completely defeat the threat. Usually such an ending is forced rather than organic. The ending of Salem’s Lot is not a happily ever after ending. It solves the immediate problem, but the surviving characters don’t really get an opportunity to return to the life they once knew or some semblance of it. You can even take this as we’re-screwed-but-not-as-screwed-as-we-could’ve-been ending. Those are very difficult to pull off well and Hooper manages to do that here. It’s an expertly executed subversion of expectations.

And it works because everything builds towards that conclusion shortly from the opening. After the initial setup our main characters are caught in events that they can’t get themselves out. There is no turning and walking away because they know too much, they’ve seen too much, and the villain is aware of all of this. They are a threat to his plans, and that they know that makes him a target. 

If I had any complaints about this, it’s local boy Mark Petrie (Lance Kerwin). He is a horror buff and generally into the supernatural. Fine but he contributes virtually nothing to the meat of the story but is important to the bookending element. During the movie Mark pops up every now and then to remind the viewer of his existence. Plus he is a poorly executed stereotype that would have been hard to swallow twenty years prior to this being made. Not harmful but annoying.

But the flaws do nothing to hurt the experience. You get hooked from the beginning and cannot stop watching. I have never seen this WITH commercials so I do not know how those affected things, but here the nearly three hours just flew by. Never a lull.

Salem’s Lot is an excellent bit of old television horror. Gripping, intense, and disturbing this is a great bit of viewing for spooky season.