(1979)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Davil Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres, Elisha Cook Jr., George Dzundza, Ed Flanders, Geoffrey Lewis, Kenneth McMillian, Fred Willard, Reggie Nalder
My first experience with the film Salem’s Lot was not a good one. I don’t remember seeing it when it was first broadcast on TV back in 1979, which seems odd enough. But in the early 80s, I began to dive into horror fiction, which spread faster than a vampire plague in a small town! When I got to King’s Salem’s Lot, I absolutely loved it and over the years, it would remain my favorite. Maybe because I grew up in a similar small town, though in Michigan, where everyone knew everyone’s business, but it really resonated with me. So, after finishing the book I went out and rented the VHS release of it, not realizing it was the shorter theatrical version. I absolutely hated it. I hated that Barlow looked like Nosferatu, which is completely different than he is in the novel. I hated they had left so much character development and backstory out. This was in my younger and naive days when I had no clue what it took to adapt a novel into a feature film, not to mention that the version I had just watched was condensed version of the full 2-part series.
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There are certain names in the horror genre that are known as icons, or one of the Masters of Horrors. And yesterday, the genre and the fans lost another one of them, Tobe Hooper. Regardless of the ups and downs of his filmography, he will always be remembered for directing the infamous 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which still is as gritty, scary, and damn entertaining as it was when it first assaulted movie audiences over forty years ago. His adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (1979) still remains as one of the best made-for-TV movies of that decade, not to mention other entertaining titles in his filmography, such as The Funhouse (1981), Lifeforce (1985), and of course, the bat-shit-crazy sequel Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986).
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