Better late than never, right? The upcoming feature adaptation of Stephen King‘s 1975 horror novel, “Salem’s Lot,” has faced an uphill battle in its journey to the screen. In the works since 2020 and having been shot in 2022, it was originally set to be released theatrically in September of that year, but was pushed to April 2023. The warning signs should’ve been apparent then as Warner Bros., the studio behind the film, also set another horror property, “Evil Dead Rising,” for the same opening weekend. April 2023 came and went and “Salem’s Lot” was still being held back, but by October, in light of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes preventing new content from being made, WB were considering dropping the film on their streaming service Max. They decided not to in that moment, but by February 2024, backlash from fans and King himself seems to have reached a fever pitch.
Posting to X, formerly known as Twitter, King said, “Between you and me, Twitter, I’ve seen the new ‘Salem’s Lot’ and it’s quite good. Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the fucking things.”
A month later, WB finally gave in, announcing they would stream the film on Max later in the year, denying it the original U.S. theatrical window that was promised. However, though the film won’t be getting a wide theatrical release in America, American Cinematheque has recently announced that the film will be opening their annual Beyond Fest in Los Angeles this year on September 25, providing it a chance to play on the big screen as intended.
“Salem’s Lot” stars Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Mackenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, and John Benjamin Hickey and was written and directed by Gary Dauberman, known for writing the “Annabelle” films, “The Nun”, and co-adapting King’s “It” (2017) and “It: Part Two” (2019). As with many of King’s stories, the film is set in Maine, in the town of Jerusalem’s Lot, and follows as writer as he gathers a group of disparate townsfolk to fight against a vampire out for all their blood. Like the original novel, this adaptation is set during the 1970s.
Watch the trailer below.
