Warning: this review contains spoilers.
The highlight of Salem’s Lot part one (the vampire boys floating outside and rap-tap tapping on windows) overshadows a scene in part two that I had forgotten was just as terrifying. Mike Ryerson (Geoffrey Lewis) is throwing dirt on the grave of Danny Glick when the wind swirls around him and he stands mesmerized, staring downward. Suddenly, he drops into the grave and opens the coffin in which Danny lies with glowing eyes. Even more suddenly, Danny sits up and dives for Mike’s neck. It’s a jump scare you know is coming, but still surprises you every time.
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This is my takeaway from finishing the 1979 mini-series this time: it’s full of incredibly scary moments. It’s not just the makeup of the boys and the performances of the young actors that are outstanding; it’s every vampire with a blue tint to their skin, a glowing circle in the center of their eyeballs, and teeth that are too big to fit inside their mouths. It’s their dream-like movements, partially facilitated by special effects trickery. It’s the atmosphere of dread that increases in part two like a snowball rolling down the hill from the cemetery into town.
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Indeed, the residents of Salem’s Lot drop like flies in part two… Mike Ryerson, Ned Tebbets, Marjorie Glick, even an unnamed baby mentioned in passing, and more. This all has an eerie prescience of modern times, with Ben Mears (David Soul) mentioning “a kind of plague” that’s settled in town. There are finally enough similarities in the deaths that kindly old drama teacher Jason Burke (Lew Ayres) convinces Ben and Dr. Bill Norton (Ed Flanders) that this plague is called, “vampirism,” and it’s delivered in the form of Kurt Barlow (Reggie Nalder.)
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Talk about a blue tint! Barlow is a darker blue all over, his eyes even beadier than his minions, his teeth even bigger than the mouth that can’t contain them. This leads to my one complaint about Salem’s Lot. Barlow doesn’t quite live up to his reputation during a scene in which he and Straker (James Mason) abduct Mark (Lance Kerwin) from his home. He’s surprisingly ineffective, simply knocking Mark’s parents’ heads together in Three Stooges style to incapacitate them. It makes me realize, though, how big a role Straker plays in the monster’s continuing survival.
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I also wondered why Straker and Barlow chose to abduct Mark with not only his parents sitting around the table, but also the priest that Ben invited into the conflict. Was it because he foiled the attempt of Danny Glick to enter his room for a late-night snack? Was it because the boy (whose father asks again why he’s so interested in monsters and magic) had the ingenuity to grab a tiny cross from one of his models to repel Danny Glick? Was it because he lived to tell others what he saw? Did this make him a threat?
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My other big takeaway was the number of references to Psycho there are in Salem’s Lot. The first time I saw the Marsten House at the top of the hill, I thought, “That looks like the Bates house.” In part two, Dr. Norton climbs the stairs inside like Detective Arbogast (Martin Balsam) in Psycho. When Ben struggles with Barlow in the root cellar, he hits the light above him and it swings on its single cord, casting dancing shadows throughout the setting. (The interior decorating of the Marsten House also evokes Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.)
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Yes, the taxidermy (evoking both Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), animal skulls, and antlers not only add atmosphere, but provide devices for murder at every turn. We’ve seen people impaled on antlers in other movies, but Straker easily lifting Dr. Norton and plunging his helpless body upon a set of antlers may have been the first. It was almost certainly the first in a made for television movie. So much of Salem’s Lot must have been shocking to viewers in 1979, fueling its continuing popularity. I for one think more highly of it today than ever before.
Salem's Lot is available on DVD and Blu-ray. Visit the TV Terror Guide: 70's TV Movies playlist at ClassicHorrors.Club TV on YouTube to watch other great movies from this series.
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