Ben Mears has returned to his hometown to write a book about the supposedly haunted Marsten House. When people around the Marsten House start dying mysteriously, Mears discovers that the owner of the mansion is actually a vampire who is turning them into an army of undead slaves.
David Soul James Mason Lance Kerwin Bonnie Bedelia Lew Ayres Julie Cobb Elisha Cook Jr. George Dzundza Ed Flanders Clarissa Kaye-Mason Geoffrey Lewis Barney McFadden Kenneth McMillan Fred Willard Marie Windsor Reggie Nalder Barbara Babcock Bonnie Bartlett Joshua Bryant James Gallery Robert Lussier Brad Savage Ronnie Scribner Ned Wilson
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So boring. And yet, so comforting. Porridge-horror.
Like many people my age, Stephen King loomed heavily over my imagination during my youth—with each hardcover artwork and movie/tv adaptation conjuring wicked images spurting in my head that one way or another always managed to creep me out or make me anxious. Even before I read a Stephen King story (I believe my first was Christine) I knew who he was—and because of one little embellished neighborhood urban legend via my cousin, I knew about Salem’s Lot.
There was that very specific time period where I would watch nothing but Universal monster movies, scooby doo, and The Monster Squad... I was just starting to discover more movies and then boom—enter my cousin Richard, and soon after that came Halloween…
"Do you want to tie me up?"
Successful writer Ben Mears returns to his home town of Jerusalem's Lot, but soon back starts getting the hibbie-jibbies from the strange house on the hill, but of course being a successful writer he's not going to let a little thing like his fears get in the way of some sexy time with local woman Susan Norton while also befriending her Father (such a smooth operator!) and when a strange box is delivered to the strange house on the hill, that's when the local townsfolks start disappearing.
"Some other time son!"
If your idea of a good time is three hours of David Soul trying to close the door on his jeep or…
the power of color contacts alone
#31 of 31 - HOOPTOBER 5.0 : We Don’t Need A Stretcher In There We Need A Mop
A film that has vastly improved over time! When it first came out I recall that I couldn't wait to see it even in a sanitized environment such as a made-for-TV miniseries! Sadly I came away extremely disappointed! I lay the blame on myself due to my youth and unobtainable expectations! Having witnessed Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre ballooned my expectations ultimately setting me up for failure!
Now that I've been around the block a few times and can now appreciate horror films that are more about the story and atmosphere and less about splatter and gore! Finally I could appreciate the…
Hoop-tober film #4
Tobe Hooper, who found his career at a bit of a crossroads 5 years after TCM, creates hip-deep atmosphere, provides decent plotting, and deals with the TV networks cast as best he can to create an effective and at times creepy-as-hell adaptation of Stephen King's vampire classic. All leads are solid (save Fred Willard, although it is not his fault), but James Mason certainly shines. All TV creative departments rival cinema of the time, and add layers and intrigue to the affair. Certainly the most ghastly vampire since Shrek's Nosferatu. A minor triumph as a TV film, Salem's Lot creates some frightening and indelible horror images that will stick with you for the rest of your life.
Tobe Hooper nailed this one. It scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. I was 8 and I never ever wanted to look at my window at night after watching this. For a T.V. made movie this really knocked it out of the park and the director was fresh off TCM so there were a lot of elements of that film he incorporated into this. The make up effects were great and those shiny contact lenses sealed the deal. It stayed pretty true to the book and trimmed out a lot of the fat but I had to knock off a 1/2 star for those cheesy freeze frame commercial transitions.
Stephen’s King’dom Marathon: Film #2
”But if a house attracts evil men…”
“Why did it attract me?”
Stephen King’s second published novel is a direct bounce off of Dracula, and one of his personal favorites, although it initially struggled to find cinematic traction. According to King himself, “It was a mess, every director in Hollywood who's ever been involved with horror wanted to do it, but nobody could come up with a script.”
Finally Warner Bros. realized that with a novel this dense it would be best served as a television miniseries and invited the Texas Chainsaw Master himself, Tobe Hooper, in to direct. Obviously, being a 70’s tv show, he had to rely more on atmosphere than blood or…
“They found us again, another one has found us.
We have to go further.”
Dollar Tree Cinema presents…Salem’s Lot.
I thought it needed to be rescued. It was just sitting there amongst the awful usual titles on a cardboard stand in a farm fresh Dollar General in Carrington, North Dakota. It was the day we buried my dad some 16 months ago, and Stephen Edwin King had always been my refuge in times of cheerlessness. I haven’t been able to watch this dollar store dandy yet because it makes me think about that day. We drove 20 minutes into the godless prairie to a small cemetery where most of my relatives are buried. Father, grandfather, and of course great grandfather…
3 cozy hours of Stephen King? SIGN ME UP!!
Okay, so in hindsight it was probably ill-advised of me to watch this film a few hours after finishing King's novel. Whilst I'll admit I did find myself comparing a few scenes with the book it didn't affect me as much as I thought it would. As a straight adaptation I think that Paul Monash did a good job of condensing a deep character-heavy novel and streamlining unnecessary plot divulgences. The film merges two or three characters into one, something I didn't care for but understood considering the vast number of characters in the book.
"Salem's Lot" is the first book of Stephen King's that I've read and whilst I really, really enjoyed it, I wouldn't say I have a…
Film 44/45 for Hooptober 4.0
3/1 of 1 Tobe Hooper film
In spite of my tendency to enjoy network miniseries based on Stephen King stories more than I probably should, I had somehow never seen this...and that simply won’t do, will it? Well, fear not! That problem has been resolved and I can now say that I did enjoy it, even if wasn’t quite as much as I had hoped. I strongly suspect that had I seen this when I was a kid, I would hold it in much higher regard. Still, Hooper...King...David Soul...vampires...you kinda know you’re going to have a good time, right?
This one focuses on a writer that returns to his hometown in Maine (a write that…
