"Between you and me, Twitter, I've seen the new 'Salem's Lot' and it's quite good," wrote Stephen King about the new movie adapting his work in February on social network X. It's old-school horror cinema: slow build and great payoff."

"It has an 'old Hollywood vibe'," King added, while publicly expressing his frustration over Warner Bros.' constant delays, as the studio had still not announced the release date, which was initially set for September 2022.

But the wait to see the adaptation of the 1975 novel, the second published by the author, is finally over. Max has announced that Salem's Lot will arrive on the platform in October, led by the team responsible for the horror franchises IT and The Conjuring, just in time for Halloween.

'The Vampire Hour'

The story follows Ben Mears, a novelist who 20 years ago entered the Marsten house on a childish dare and saw something that still haunts him. Now, as an established writer, he returns to his childhood town seeking inspiration for his next book.

There, in that quiet place where nothing extraordinary ever happened, he discovers a series of strange events occurring in his hometown, where residents begin to disappear in mysterious ways and rumors about the presence of vampires spread.

Starring Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick) as Ben Mears. The cast also includes Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Pilou Asbaek, Alfre Woodard, and William Sadler.

Gary Dauberman, who has a close relationship with Warner Bros. as the screenwriter for the studio's IT films, as well as several Annabelle movies, directed and wrote this adaptation.

The novel's inspirations

As King explained, corruption in the American government in the 1970s played a significant role in inspiring this story. "I wrote The Mystery of Salem's Lot during the period when we learned about Ellsberg's unraveling, the White House tapes, suspicions, the ominous relationship between the CIA and Gordon Liddy...," the author said in the essay On Becoming a Brand Name published in 1980.

"This novel has something to do with my own disillusionment and subsequent fear for the future," he pointed out. "In a way, it's more like Invasion of the Body Snatchers than it is like Dracula. The fear here seems to be the Government has invaded everyone." 

In addition to political disillusionment and Dracula by Bram Stoker, King has also acknowledged and cited influences for writing this work such as The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and Peyton Place by Grace Metalious.

The previous adaptations of Salem's Lot include a two-part CBS miniseries in 1979 and a TNT limited series in 2004 starring Rob Lowe.

*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence