SALEM S LOT Trailer (2024) Makenzie Leigh

SALEM S LOT Trailer (2024) Makenzie Leigh

SALEM'S LOT Trailer (2024) Makenzie Leigh
© 2024 - Max

Max has released the first trailer for Salem’s Lot, the highly anticipated adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 vampire novel. Directed by Gary Dauberman, known for his work on the It franchise, the film is set to premiere on the streaming service on October 3.

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Salem’s Lot follows author Ben Mears, played by Lewis Pullman, as he returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot seeking inspiration for his next book. However, he soon discovers that the town is under siege by a terrifying vampire, leading to a deadly battle for survival.

The film’s supporting cast, includes Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, and Pilou Asbæk. Despite concerns that Salem’s Lot might be shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery after the studio’s shift away from theatrical releases, the project was confirmed for release on Max earlier this year.

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Dauberman not only directed but also wrote the script, with production led by James Wan and Michael Clear of Atomic Monster, Roy Lee of Vertigo, and Mark Wolper. The film adapts King’s second novel, which solidified the author’s reputation in the horror genre and introduced key elements of his larger universe, with characters from Salem’s Lot reappearing in works like The Dark Tower series.

This latest adaptation follows the 1979 CBS miniseries directed by Tobe Hooper and is expected to bring a fresh take on the vampire classic for modern audiences.
The Salem's Lot trailer offers a look at the latest adaptation of Stephen King's work. After years of delays, the movie remake - which was primarily shot in 2021 - is finally coming to Max. The upcoming Salem's Lot is based on the author's 1975 sophomore novel, about a writer who attempts to save his hometown from a dangerous vampire. It stars Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, William Sadler, and Top Gun: Maverick's Lewis Pullman. King posted about the delay on X in February, saying the movie was "quite good" and that he was "not sure why WB is holding it back."

Now, Max has debuted the trailer for Salem's Lot. The trailer introduces Lewis Pullman's Ben Mears as he returns to his titular hometown. However, the seemingly bucolic locale turns eerie when the sun sets and a gravedigger hears knocking coming from a coffin, announcing the arrival of a vampiric threat. The remainder of the trailer showcases various horror setpieces including the iconic moment where a child vampire floats outside a window. The trailer also reveals that the movie will debut on Max on October 3. Watch the video below:

What This Trailer Means For Salem's Lot
The Stephen King Movie Finally Has Its Day In The Sun
A Corpse Under a Shroud Sitting Up in Salem's Lot 2024
The release of the trailer offers fuller assurance that the new Stephen King movie will indeed be receiving a proper release after several years on the shelf. So does the announcement of the official release date, as previously all that had been revealed was the intended release month, without narrowing down the specific day on which the movie was to debut on the streaming platform.

Salem's Lot is one of just a few 2024 horror movies to have an October release date, a roster that so far includes V/H/S/Beyond, Terrifier 3, and Smile 2.

The trailer also underscores Stephen King's assertions about the quality of the movie. It offers a strong showcase for the ensemble cast and the production value of the project, which was written and directed by Gary Dauberman, a filmmaker who is no stranger to bringing Stephen King books to the screen. In addition to his work as a writer and executive producer on many projects in the Conjuring Universe, Dauberman wrote both the 2017 King adaptation It and its 2019 sequel It: Chapter Two.

Our Take On The Salem’s Lot Trailer
Salem’s Lot Is Premiering At The Right Time
A Man Shutting His Window While A Vampire Looks On in Salem's Lot 2024
Though King has thrown his weight behind it, Salem's Lot looks to be a fairly straightforward adaptation of a novel that has been brought to the screen several times before. Thus, ending its delays now and finally allowing audiences an early glimpse at the movie is likely a good thing, because the promotional machine for the much buzzier upcoming Stephen King movie The Life of Chuck, from Gerald's Game director Mike Flanagan, is just beginning to start up and could have offered the vampire movie major competition in the King sphere if its release had been delayed any longer.

Source: Max

Salem's Lot (2024) Official Poster
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Salem's Lot (2024)
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Salem's Lot is a 2024 remake of the movie of the same name released in 1979. The latest adaptation of Stephen King's 1975 novel stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, and Bill Camp, with Gary Dauberman writing and directing the Max original film. The plot revolves around a writer who discovers a vampire in his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot upon returning home for inspiration.

Director
Gary Dauberman
Studio(s)
New Line Cinema , Atomic Monster , Vertigo Entertainment
Distributor(s)
HBO Max
Writers
Gary Dauberman
Cast
Lewis Pullman , Alfre Woodard , Makenzie Leigh , Bill Camp , Spencer Treat Clark , Pilou Asbæk , John Benjamin Hickey , William Sadler , Jordan Preston Carter , Nicholas Crovetti , Cade Woodward , Kellan Rhude , Debra Christofferson , Rebecca Gibel , Mike Bash , Fedna Jacquet , Avery Bederman
Runtime
113 Minutes
Main Genre
Horror

“Annabelle” writer Gary Dauberman is sinking his teeth into one of Stephen King‘s most famous tales with the first trailer for the upcoming “Salem’s Lot,” streaming on Max on Oct. 3.

Based on King’s 1975 novel, “Salem’s Lot” follows Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman), a successful writer who moves back to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot to write his next novel, inspired by an experience he had in an abandoned house in the town. His arrival coincides with the purchase of the house by Kurt Barlow (William Sadler), an ancient vampire using his human familiar Richard Straker (Pilou Asbæk) to turn the citizens of the town. As more and more locals are transformed into vampires, Mears and his human allies are trapped in a fight for their lives.

In addition to Pullman, Sadler and Asbæk, the film also stars Makenzie Leigh as Susan Norton, Ben’s love interest; Bill Camp as high school teacher Matthew Burke; Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody; Spencer Treat Clark as gravedigger Mike Ryerson; and John Benjamin Hickey as Father Callahan, the town priest who would later become a major character in King’s book series “The Dark Tower.”

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The movie was first announced in 2019 and was initially slated for a theatrical release in September 2022, before being delayed multiple times and shifted to Max.

Dauberman wrote and directed the film, after having written the script for the 2017 and 2019 Stephen King adaptations “It” and “It: Chapter Two.” He’s also well known for his work on several spinoffs of “The Conjuring” franchise, having written “Annabelle,” “Annabelle: Creation” and “The Nun.” He also wrote and directed “Annabelle Comes Home” in 2019. James Wan, the creator of the “Conjuring” franchise, produces the film.

Max’s “Salem’s Lot” is not the first adaptation of the book. Four years after publication, the novel was turned into two-part CBS miniseries starring David Soul as Mears, which was nominated for three Emmy Awards. A feature film sequel to the miniseries, “A Return to Salem’s Lot,” was released in 1987. A new miniseries adaptation starring Rob Lowe premiered on TNT in 2004. In 2021, Epix premiered “Chapelwaite,” a series based on King’s prequel short story “Jerusalem’s Lot,” starring Adrien Brody and Emily Hampshire.

“Salem’s Lot” will premiere on Max on Oct. 3 Watch the full trailer below.

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James Wan, Lewis Pullman, Salem's Lot, Stephen King
The 1975 Stephen King horror classic Salem’s Lot is coming back to life, with a new feature-length adaptation heading to Max on October 3.

A new trailer, set against the backdrop of Gordon Light’s 1974 song “Sundown,” gives a peak of what happens when killer vampires descend on the sleepy Maine town of Jerusalem’s Lot.

This new adaptation of King’s novel – starring Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Pilou Asbæk, Alfre Woodard, and William Sadler – was written and directed Gary Dauberman, the co-writer on the 2017 adaptation of It and the 2018 sequel It Chapter Two. Those films grossed a combined $1.1 billion, making them two most successful Stephen King movies in Hollywood history, outgrossing even The Green Mile, Pet Cemetery, Misery, and Stand By Me.

Salem’s Lot was Stephen King’s second book following Carrie. It was turned into a two-part CBS miniseries in 1979 starring David Soul, James Mason, Bonnie Bedelia, Lance Kern, and Fred Willard. In 2004, Rob Lowe starred in another Salem’s Lot miniseries for TNT alongside Donald Sutherland, Samantha Mathis, James Cromwell, and Luther Hauer.

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This new version of Salem’s Lot was originally slated for a theatrical release in 2023, but was bumped to the following year due to Covid-related delays and the SAG-AFTRA strike. Earlier this year, Max announced that it would premiere on its streaming service.

It’s one of many Stephen King novels and short stores, including The Long Walk, Christine, Fairy Tale, From a Buck 8, and, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, that are in various stages of development for big screen and TV adaptations. King’s most recent novel was 2023’s Holly, which is also being turned into a TV series.
At long last, Max has unveiled the first trailer for Salem’s Lot, its adaptation of Stephen King’s classic 1975 vampire novel, directed by Gary Dauberman (It franchise), announcing that the film will premiere on the streamer on Thursday, October 3.

In Salem’s Lot, author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.

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Others in the cast include Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk, and John Benjamin Hickey.

While some feared the New Line title would be shelved by Warner Bros Discovery after pivoting away from theaters, à la Batgirl, the project was officially set to premiere on Max back in March.

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Dauberman directed the pic from his own script and served as executive producer. Producers included James Wan and Michael Clear for Atomic Monster; Roy Lee for Vertigo; and Mark Wolper.

A cornerstone of horror maestro King’s oeuvre, Salem’s Lot marked the author’s first major foray into vampire fiction and his second published novel, after Carrie. The book laid the groundwork for King’s shared universe, as characters and locations from Salem’s Lot would go on to appear in later works like The Dark Tower series. It was previously adapted into a CBS miniseries, directed by Tobe Hooper and starring David Soul and James Mason, all the way back in 1979.

Check out the trailer for Salem’s Lot above.

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Salem's Lot
The new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 novel, considered by many to be one of the author’s very best, was shot in the summer of 2021 (with additional photography a year later). And then it just sat. For a while it was unclear whether Warner Bros. was just going to scrap the movie altogether, as it did with “Batgirl” and “Coyote vs. Acme.” Eventually the movie was shifted to premiere on the company’s streaming platform Max. We now have a date that it’ll debut (October 3) and a brand new trailer. Watch it below.

Lewis Pullman plays Ben Mears, a novelist who is drawn back to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, obsessed with a supposedly haunted house, with a history of bad fortune, which has become even more evil with the arrival of an ancient supernatural force. Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, Pilou Asbæk and King legends William Sadler (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile,” “The Mist”) and Bill Camp (“The Outsider”) round out the cast.

The story of “’Salem’s Lot” has been adapted a few times before. In the late 1970s there was a two-part television miniseries that aired over Thanksgiving on CBS and was directed by “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” filmmaker Tobe Hooper. The miniseries was so successful that it inspired a theatrical sequel, “Return to ‘Salem’s Lot,” directed by Larry Cohen.

In 2004, an underrated two-part version aired on TNT, directed by Mikael Salomon and starring Rob Lowe. And the story of the novel was incorporated into the second season of “Castle Rock” on Hulu, with “Chapelwaite,” a one-season Epix series, based on a short story that was published after the novel (and was collected as part of the “Night Shift” collection).

This new film, which runs a svelte 113 minutes, was written, directed and executive produced by Gary Dauberman, who co-wrote the two “It” movies and wrote and directed the very fun “Annabelle Comes Home.” His “Annabelle” producer James Wan is also on board “’Salem’s Lot.”

“Salem’s Lot” premieres on Max on Oct. 3.
The latest adaptation of Stephen King‘s Salem’s Lot will bypass movie theaters altogether.

As previously reported, New Line Cinema’s take on King’s 1975 bestselling novel will forego a theatrical release and launch exclusively on streaming service Max. On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed that it would bow in Thursday, Oct. 3. Watch a trailer above.

Salem's Lot
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max
In the streaming-only film, author Ben Mears (played by Lewis Pullman) “returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire,” according to the official logline. A trailer has not yet been released.

Rounding out the cast are Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage) as Dr. Cody, Makenzie Leigh (Gotham) as Susan Norton, Bill Camp (The Outsider) as Matthew Burke, Spencer Treat Clark (Animal Kingdom) as Mike Ryerson, Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones) as Straker, and John Benjamin Hickey (The Big C) as Father Callahan.

Salem's Lot
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max
The new Salem’s Lot hails from the producing teams behind the Conjuring and IT film franchises. Gary Dauberman writes, directs and executive-produces. Additional EPs include James Wan, Michael Clear, Roy Lee and Mark Wolper.

Salem’s Lot was first adapted by CBS in 1979. The two-part miniseries, which starred David Soul as Ben Mears, went on to receive three Primetime Emmy nominations. That was followed by the theatrical release of 1987’s A Return to Salem’s Lot, which was marketed as a sequel but did not include any of the original characters.

Seventeen years later, in 2004, Rob Lowe headlined a second miniseries adaptation for TNT.

Will you be streaming Salem’s Lot when it makes its debut on Max? Let us know in Comments.

Salem's Lot
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max
Salem's Lot
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max
Salem's Lot
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max
Salem's Lot
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max
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Long before “True Blood” or “Twilight” brought vampires to small-town America, horror writer Stephen King imagined the creatures invading his backyard in rural Maine (technically, a fictional place called Jerusalem’s Lot). Until then, bloodsucking bat-men were something only Europeans had to worry about, as Dracula and his castle-dwelling kin preyed on hapless villagers half a world away. Then came “’Salem’s Lot,” King’s second novel, in which the man who’d made witches a modern-day concern with “Carrie” asked American readers: What if an outbreak of vampirism struck your community?

A tepid new (technically, two years delayed) feature version returns to that question a half-century later, offering flashes of style and a more satisfying finale in an otherwise weak take on its dated source material. Whereas King seemed to be kicking another stuffy old genre into the present, writer-director Gary Dauberman’s retro-minded adaptation goes in the opposite direction, embracing the pageboy haircuts, polyester-blend duds and don’t-trust-anyone paranoia of that era.

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The film takes place in 1975, the same year “’Salem’s Lot” was published. You can guesstimate the period from the movie titles posted on the local drive-in theater marquee — “The Drowning Pool” and “Night Moves” — and the classic Gordon Lightfoot ditty, whose lyrics now serve as a nocturnal warning: “Sundown, you better take care / If I find you been creeping ’round my back stairs.” Trouble is, vampire lore has evolved so much in the intervening decades that Dauberman’s take comes across as quaint and not nearly as scary as the earlier Tobe Hooper-made miniseries (better to pretend the 2004 stab didn’t happen).

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I haven’t seen Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” yet, but I suspect even that silent-movie remake won’t feel as oldfangled as “’Salem’s Lot,” in which the characters turn to comic books for instructions on how to ward off the undead: by using holy water and crosses, which shine white in their presence. These days, the sight of someone repelling a vampire with a crucifix made of taped-together tongue depressors seems silly, whereas I’ve heard stories of kids who caught “Salem’s Lot” on TV carrying popsicle sticks for that same purpose.

Incidentally, the main vampire here, a bald-headed coffin-dweller named Kurt Barlow (Alexander Ward), harks back to Count Orlok of “Nosferatu” far more than he does old Dracula. That’s one clue that this is essentially an update of the miniseries, not a return to the source, where King clearly had Bram Stoker’s sophisticated shape-shifter in mind. An even clearer sign is the familiar silhouette of the Marsten House, the Victorian-style murder mansion acquired by Barlow’s assistant, Richard Straker (Pilou Asbæk). It’s an iconic property from which to unleash his plan: transforming every last resident of Jerusalem’s Lot in his master’s image (i.e., to make them all vampires).

Moderately successful author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman), who grew up in the area, returns to ’Salem’s Lot at roughly the same time Straker is setting up an antiques shop downtown. Both men have skeletons in their closets, though only Straker’s are literal, as we see Barlow’s coffin being transported on his orders in the opening scene — a missed-opportunity mood-setter in which the two deliverymen are never heard from again, nor are they dispatched in a remotely memorable way. They simply do the job and then disappear, since King wanted the story’s first couple victims to be kids: the Glick brothers, Ralphie (Cade Woodward) and Danny (Nicholas Crovetti).

That tilts “’Salem’s Lot” in a familiar “It”-like direction, as young boys are directly endangered by a far more powerful supernatural phenomenon — which makes sense, since Dauberman penned the two-part “It” reboot (plus five films in the Conjuring Universe). Except, these vampires simply aren’t very intimidating, despite a few nifty upgrades, including eyes that glow gold in the dark and a materializing-out-of-nowhere trick where the camera pans back and forth to find them looming on the roofs of local buildings.

After Danny is taken, new-to-town teen Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter) swears to go after the vampires — a promise that’s both reckless and relatable. Though considerably shorter than the two TV versions, Dauberman’s film starts off clunky, as if a few scenes had been cut (for example, Mark’s parents don’t appear until Barlow kills them late in the film) in search of the right flow. Straker comes off conspicuously creepy from the start, pulling up beside Mark and the Glick boys with a flamboyant “Greetings, young masters.”

So often in horror movies, the characters don’t know what they’re dealing with, responding to zombies or vampires as if such creatures weren’t pop-culture mainstays. Here, Mark and the school principal (Bill Camp) recognize the threat relatively quickly, fashioning wooden stakes from whatever’s handy — a chair leg, a baseball bat — and impaling their attackers on them. They enlist Ben and his librarian girlfriend (Makenzie Leigh), as well as the skeptical local doctor (Alfre Woodard, who’s all ”This is some shit!”) and an alcoholic priest (John Benjamin Hickey). Still, it’s this six against nearly the entire town, as vampirism spreads faster than the most insidious coronavirus.

Broadly speaking, Dauberman has made a by-the-book adaptation, with a few diversity-minded improvements and a plot twist or three to keep audiences on their toes. For example, Straker exits the story early, clearing the way for a different character to become Barlow’s thrall. And then there’s the climax, back at the drive-in, where the setting sun behaves in peculiar ways. It’s gratifying to think that a huge outdoor screen, which saved movies during the pandemic, could potentially save humankind. Given the junky look of this film’s visual effects, however, it’s just as well that “Salem’s Lot” is destined for streaming, where it joins the two miniseries in the small-screen graveyard.

“Salem’s Lot” will stream exclusively on Max beginning Oct. 3, 2024.

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Lewis Pullman, Salem's Lot, Stephen King