After a number of lengthy delays, it was recently announced that Warner Bros. and New Line's re-adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot will debut on the Max streaming service on October 3rd, and the first trailer has finally been released online.
The teaser introduces writer Ben Mears (Thunderbolts* actor Lewis Pullman), as he returns to his childhood town of Jerusalem's Lot to do research for his new book. Ben soon realizes that the "haunted" house that traumatized him as a child has some new occupants, and they have sinister plans for The Lot.
Ben joins Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), Doctor Cody (Alfre Woodard), Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter) and Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey) in an attempt to stop the evil Kurt Barlow before he consumes the entire town.
Though we do see other vampires - the nightmare fuel undead child scratching at the window scene from Tobe Hooper's TV movie is recreated - Barlow himself is mostly kept under wraps here, aside from one quick glimpse as a car boot is opened, and another as he comes hurtling through a wall.
Check out the trailer and poster below, and let us know what you think in the comments section.
"Salem's Lot is such a special book because there's a lot of macro sociopolitical themes in there. It's not just a horror book," Pullman said of this latest take on the story in a recent interview. "How Gary approached it was almost like, this is not a horror movie. This is a movie about a small town in America where something horrific happens. He was trying to also rekindle the fire of mystique about vampires. They've shifted in many different ways over the last couple of decades in terms of pop culture. I think Gary really wanted to return back to this very mysterious, almost mythological lens on them."
Last year, we got word that Warner Bros. had pushed Salem's Lot back to April 21, 2023 after previously planning to release it on September 9, 2022 Since then, the movie appeared to be removed from the schedule altogether, and there were concerns that it may be shelved following David Zaslav's decision to write off the Batgirl movie.
Then, back in March, New Line confirmed the rumor that the vampire horror film will skip theaters altogether and debut on the Max streaming service. Previous trade reports have noted that this "is not a reflection of the film’s quality, but is due to the fact that the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike has created a growing need for Max content."
The movie also stars Bill Camp and Spencer Treat Clark. Recent IT adaptation writer Gary Dauberman (Annabelle Comes Home) directs, and also penned the screenplay.
King's novel tells the story of a writer named Ben Mears who returns to his childhood town of Jerusalem's Lot, only to find himself drawn to an old house that traumatized him as a child. The Marsten House is an evil place, and an evil place attracts evil men. Unfortunately for Ben and the rest of the town, this time the evil men in question are powerful vampire Kurt Barlow and his devious familiar Richard Straker.
Are you looking forward to a new take on Salem's Lot?