{"id":110033,"date":"2024-10-03T20:29:50","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T13:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110033"},"modified":"2024-10-03T20:29:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T13:29:50","slug":"stephen-kings-mediocre-vampire-do-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110033","title":{"rendered":"Stephen King&#8217;s Mediocre Vampire Do-Over"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLong before \u201cTrue Blood\u201d or \u201cTwilight\u201d brought vampires to small-town America, horror writer <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/stephen-king\/\" id=\"auto-tag_stephen-king\" data-tag=\"stephen-king\">Stephen King<\/a> imagined the creatures invading his backyard in rural Maine (technically, a fictional place called Jerusalem\u2019s Lot). Until then, blood-sucking 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 \u201c\u2019Salem\u2019s Lot,\u201d King\u2019s second novel in which the man who\u2019d made witches a modern-day concern with \u201cCarrie\u201d asked American readers: What if an outbreak of vampirism struck your community?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tA 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\u2019s retro-minded adaptation goes in the opposite direction, embracing the pageboy haircuts, polyester-blend duds and don\u2019t-trust-anyone paranoia of that era.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe film takes place in 1975, the same year \u201c\u2019Salem\u2019s Lot\u201d was published. You can guestimate the period from the movie titles posted on the local drive-in theater marquee \u2014 \u201cThe Drowning Pool\u201d and \u201cNight Moves\u201d \u2014 and the classic Gordon Lightfoot ditty, whose lyrics now serve as a nocturnal warning: \u201cSundown, you better take care\/If I find you been creeping \u2019round my back stairs.\u201d Trouble is, vampire lore has evolved so much in the intervening decades that Dauberman\u2019s take comes across quaint and not nearly as scary as the earlier Tobe Hooper-made miniseries (better to pretend the 2004 stab didn\u2019t happen).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tI haven\u2019t seen Robert Eggers\u2019 \u201cNosferatu\u201d yet, but I suspect even that silent-movie remake won\u2019t feel as oldfangled as \u201c\u2019Salem\u2019s Lot,\u201d in which the characters turn to comic books for instructions on how to ward off the undead: 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\u2019ve heard stories of kids who caught \u201c\u2019Salem\u2019s Lot\u201d on TV carrying popsicle sticks for that same purpose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIncidentally, the main vampire here, a bald-headed coffin-dweller named Kurt Barlow (Alexander Ward), harkens back to Count Orlok of \u201cNosferatu,\u201d far more than he does old Dracula. That\u2019s one clue that this is essentially an update of the miniseries, not a return to the source, where King clearly had Bram Stoker\u2019s 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\u2019s assistant, Richard Straker (Pilou Asb\u00e6k). It\u2019s an iconic property from which to unleash his plan: transforming every last resident of Jerusalem\u2019s Lot in his master\u2019s image (i.e. to make them all vampires).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tModerately successful author Ben Mears (<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/lewis-pullman\/\" id=\"auto-tag_lewis-pullman\" data-tag=\"lewis-pullman\">Lewis Pullman<\/a>), who grew up in the area, returns to \u2019Salem\u2019s Lot at roughly the same time Straker is setting up an antique shop downtown. Both men have skeletons in their closets, though only Straker\u2019s are literal, as we see Barlow\u2019s coffin being transported on his orders in the opening scene \u2014 a missed-opportunity mood-setter in which the two delivery men 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\u2019s first couple victims to be kids: the Glick brothers, Ralphie (Cade Woodward) and Danny (Nicholas Crovetti).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThat tilts \u201c\u2019Salem\u2019s Lot\u201d in a familiar \u201cIt\u201d-like direction, as young boys are directly endangered by a far-more-powerful supernatural phenomenon \u2014 which makes sense, since Dauberman penned the two-part \u201cIt\u201d reboot (plus five films in the Conjuring Universe). Except, these vampires simply aren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAfter Danny is taken, new-to-town teen Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter) swears to go after the vampires \u2014 a promise that\u2019s both reckless and relatable. Though considerably shorter than the two TV versions, Dauberman\u2019s film starts off clunky, as if a few scenes had been cut (for example, Mark\u2019s parents don\u2019t 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, \u201cGreetings, young masters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSo often in horror movies, the characters don\u2019t know what they\u2019re dealing with, responding to zombies or vampires as if such creatures weren\u2019t pop-culture mainstays. Here, Mark and the school principal (Bill Camp) recognize the threat relatively quickly, fashioning wooden stakes from whatever\u2019s handy \u2014 a chair leg, a baseball bat \u2014 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\u2019s all, \u201dThis is some shit!\u201d) and alcoholic priest (John Benjamin Hickey). Still, it\u2019s this six against nearly the entire town, as vampirism spreads faster than the most insidious coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBroadly speaking, Dauberman has made a by-the-book adaptation, with a few diversity-minded improvements (let\u2019s just say, Black lives matter in this version) 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\u2019s thrall. And then there\u2019s the climax, back at the drive-in, where the setting sun behaves in peculiar ways. It\u2019s gratifying to think that a huge outdoor screen, which saved movies during the pandemic, could potentially save mankind. Given the junky look of this film\u2019s visual effects, however, it\u2019s just as well that \u201c\u2019Salem\u2019s Lot\u201d is destined for streaming, where it joins the two miniseries in the small-screen graveyard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<em>\u201c\u2019Salem\u2019s Lot\u201d will stream exclusively on Max, beginning Oct. 3, 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2024\/film\/reviews\/salems-lot-review-stephen-king-1236166447\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long before \u201cTrue Blood\u201d or \u201cTwilight\u201d 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\u2019s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110033\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}