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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Turner Home Ent
Salesrank: 7290
Released: October 12, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.71 |
| Used Price: $4.49 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A journalist returns to his hometown to research the mysterious memories that have haunted him since childhood. But soon the closely held secrets of small town life turn into unimaginable terror when a fearsome stranger arrives - lloking to sink his teeth into a new home. Studio: Turner Hm Entertainm Release Date: 10/04/2005 Starring: Samantha Mathis Donald Sutherland Run time: 181 minutes Rating: Nr
Description of Salem's Lot - The Miniseries:
The vampiric Stephen King tale returns to the small screen, 25 years after the first made-for-TV Salem's Lot, a Tobe Hooper-directed ratings hit. This time it's Rob Lowe as a successful writer who returns to his haunted hometown. As a kid, something awful happened to him in the spooky mansion on the hill; now that he's back, the mansion is once again buzzing with evil portents. The physical production (shot in Australia) is convincing, and it's fun to see old pros such as Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, and James Cromwell cutting up in juicy roles. The storytelling, however, feels oddly disjointed, as though King's sprawl had been arbitrarily hacked away rather than adapted (a few big moments are bewilderingly left offscreen). The approach misses the basic assets of a vampire story: the disbelief, the lore, the sex appeal. Instead, it feels like a random collection of bits for short attention spans. --Robert Horton
Salem's Lot - The Miniseries Reviews:
Salems Lot 
2009-09-01 - Now this is a good ol' fashioned vampire story and movie. No beautifully tragic dark heroes, no love and angst ridden teenagers. These vampires obey the original rules, the way Bram Stoker required and would recognize. Rob Lowe will never win an Oscar, but hey, this is pure scarey entertainment, not Greek Tragedy. Enjoy this vampire flic late at night, when you're alone. Creepy!!
Enjoyable Stephen King dramatisation 
2009-08-02 - I don't understand why this remake has gotten any bad reviews...and I'm not too easy to please. I remember seeing the David Soul version years ago and being disappointed that it didn't live up to the novel--no easy feat.(Maybe I need to revisit that one.) Anyhow, I thought Rob Lowe did a good job despite my not being a fan of his, as did many of the other actors;Andre Braugher's acting was stellar, although Rutger Hauer as Barlow was too big a leap for me. There are genuinely scary moments in this flick, especially the jail cell scene! Unless there has been some sudden release of superb, hi-brow horror movies on the market that I don't know about, this film well deserves to be on the shelf of every "spooky" movie fan. Given the fact that it is a TV production, I think it was particularly well produced.
Believable dialogue, believable choice of cast, nice pacing, even acceptable liberty in translating the novel...I would think Stephen King would be pleased especially given the fact that so many of his other films have been poorly handled.
FUN UPDATE OF THE KING CLASSIC NOVEL FOR TV AGAIN
2009-06-21 - SALEM'S LOT
I happen to like this updated mini series from the King classic which was also adapted much earlier into a mini series with Tobe Hooper at the helm. This version is not that movie and is not exactly like the book either but I must say that I found it really entertaining. From the acting to the over all story this just seemed like a good time to me, those around me agreed. Even though it is not completely faithful to the original work it is still worthy enough that King put his name on it, there have been others he hated enough to not have his named attached no more.
The story is the same about a writer coming back to his hometown and an unspeakable evil is lying in wait. Of course you all know that the evil in which I speak is vampires with Barlow [Rutger Hauer] of course as the lead heel in this. As the small town slowly starts to die around poor Ben Mears [Rob Lowe] who is still traumatized to an incident as a youth he starts to realize something is going on. People are disappearing and others are acting a bit strange and this all coincides with the arrival of Mears and the never seen around town Kurt Barlow. Barlow's assistant Richard Straker [Donald Sutherland] is out and about running an antique store, he is an odd fellow. But when it all comes down to it there are some vampires running around and a select few have to step up and take them down. Those few are probably the most unique and diverse group of hunters ever but hey it makes for a good time. There is the returning home writer who witnessed a murder/suicide as a child in Mears, the doctor who is sleeping with a patient and also being set up by her in Dr. James Cody [Robert Mammone], the priest who may be more gone then he appears in Father Donald Callahan [James Cromwell], a school teacher who likes the fellas in Matt Burke [Andre Braugher], and of course a kid named Mark Petrie [Daniel Byrd] who has more lives than a cat.
That group comes together to stop this evil virus that has invaded the town and they may or may not be successful. Director Mikael Salomon keeps things moving and makes the film look very atmospheric but at times the film seems uneven. Sometimes one thing will be going on and the next we switch gears, some films do that intentionally but I doubt this film was supposed to do that. Still it is an enjoyable film and writer Peter Filardi did a decent enough job up dating this film into today's world. The film looks good and there are actually some pretty good moments in this version of the King classic.
As far as performances go I think every one was up to par and delivered well, no weak performances as least from what I could see. Rob Lowe as always been a favorite of mine and did a good job in this film in the lead role. Rutger Hauer was good as the evil lead vampire named Barlow and pulled of the role well, as did his side kick played by the great Donald Sutherland. As for the rest of the hunters that accompanied Rob in this film they all did great jobs. Robert Mammone was excellent as Dr. Cody and was one of my favorites in the film and James Cromwell was equally as good as the disgruntled priest. Andre Braugher was great in his role bringing something very new to the character and of course the surprise of the film Daniel Byrd was good in this as well, in fact his character may be the best and most fearless of the hunters.
Every one else in this film was great as well with like I said no one giving a bad performance at all. If you did not catch this one TV or even if you did I recommend this one to every one, it's good for a lazy Friday night or Saturday. To all King fans out there this may be a disappointment to you if you don't give it a chance, just know that this is an up date for our time we live in now with cell phones and all that stuff. This is a fun mini series that I thought was worth the purchase.
Salems Lot and Salem's Lot - for the love of both of them
2009-03-17 - You one starers on Salem's Lot Tv miniseries should be ashamed of the one - star views.
The reason for why is because this is simply a miniseries version designed to capture the spirit of the modern times and put it into context aligning with Stephen King's Salem's Lot.
And doing that is not as easy as you think. I watched this film for over 3 or 4 times and know what I'm talking about - I find absolutely nothing wrong with it. Maybe 10 years from now there'll be need to remake Salem's Lot but until then at least let's give this series a chance.
When I say you should feel ashamed I do not mean I am attacking you personally - what I mean is that this TV series is simply brilliant and those of us who know are all in agreement on that.
This TV series is in fact a whole movie that's on a single DVD and it's an awsome film. It'also a return to the vampire who couldn't tolerate crosses in the cinema of the 50's , 60's and 70's , 40's , 30's and even 20's.
If you're gonna remake a film like for instance Vamphyr , I wouldn't be surprised to look at disappointments. But I won't even give myself time to view the reviews of the one starers. By that I don't mean they don't know what they're talking about - all I mean is that those are their views , and my view is my view. And when I state that my view is that the majority of them should feel ashamed , they'll at least try to put themselves into the shoes of the geniuses behind the production of the series. At first I wasn't sure if I was gonna like the TV series or movie or not , but the 180 minutes made me feel as if I had been watching it for shorter time than the old film.
And it's a different atmosphere now , literally when it comes to old movies. Look at how different the atmosphere is then and compare it to what it's like in films that are being produced today. The sky tells us a lot in these films. The vampires are sinister and old - modern. I think that there may be fans of this movie in even the communities of real life vampires. After I watched the film I bought a new version of Salem's Lot which I still keep at home. And I say bravo! This movie is an absolute masterwork in movie remaking. This is a brilliant example in a sucession to remaking and I hope that my comment will not inspire the producers to create worse remakes of other movie projects in the future.
Sometimes when too many people give a movie director's film project similarly sounding positive criticism reviews , the result may be that a future film project becomes not as sucessful because the director was not as serious when he had been focused on that film. So maybe a lot of negative criticism spiced with a few positive ones didn't do any damage.
This series is also in my view far less formula - based than the old Salem's Lot which is equally brilliantly directed. But what the negative reviewers and we positive reviewers on Salem's Lot TV series or film can agree upon , is that the good ol's Salem's Lot will never be remade in the fashion it originally appeared when it was first released in cinemas.
This is a series or film I keep reliving and enjoying each time I watch it.
I strongly encourage newcomers to the world of Salem's Lot and the world of these two films not to take my positive criticism seriously but to form their own judgement after they've seen these films and compared them with each other. There was also a relatively unknown Salem's Lot TV miniseries released before this one was made , and then there was a Salem's Lot 2 which was supposed to be a sequel to the original Salem's Lot , and incredibly I've actually seen Salem's Lot 2!!
Mostly a waste of potential 
2009-01-18 - A crappy rewrite that misses the tone of the book and original miniseries. The characters were all made to be more jerky and unlikeable than the original miniseries (except for Straker who was sort of wimped-down a bit). This series is okay, but the '70's one is much better.
