Max’s Salem’s Lot Review: The New Adaptation Squeezes Stephen King’s Story But Is Sustained By Its Characters And Scares

Adapting Stephen King novels into films often requires condensing the content significantly. Even lengthy adaptations like Frank Darabont’s 189-minute version of “The Green Mile” and Mike Flanagan’s 180-minute director’s cut of “Doctor Sleep” combine characters and omit subplots from their original stories. Despite the novels’ cinematic qualities, this is a testament to King’s writing style, as his fiction doesn’t just portray lives but whole universes.

Salem’s Lot Review: A Chilling but Small Take on Stephen King’s Classic

Among Stephen King’s numerous invented small-town names in Maine, Salem’s Lot could be considered the most appealing. It serves as the setting for his renowned novel bearing the same name, and also two subsequent short stories. In King’s book, this humble Maine town somehow attracts a ravenous vampire, transforming it into a tourist destination of a chilling kind. The film industry appears to be enamored with the name too, as evidenced by multiple adaptations of the novel, including the upcoming release of a new movie on October 3.