Salem's Lot, a supernatural horror movie directed by Gary Dauberman, had its international premiere at the Beyond Fest this September. Max will exclusively stream the movie from October 3, 2024. Adapted from the original book by Stephen King, the movie centers around Ben Mears, played by Lewis Pullman.
The movie starts from Jerusalem's Lot, Ben's hometown, a place beholding a dark past, and advances with an eerie development following the advent of an infamous vampire. However, the production reportedly fought off multiple challenges while making changes to the storyline of the source material.
The following are the differences between Stephen King's novel and the movie.
Salem's Lot the book vs the movie, differences explored
1) The origin of Salem's Lot movie
In the main novel written by Stephen King, Ben loses his father at an early age and his mother is not in a condition to take care of him. So Ben's aunt becomes his legal guardian for a few years until he leaves town following a tragic fire.
On the contrary, the story has been somewhat changed in the movie Salem's Lot where Ben's parents die in an accident. Moreover, the tragic death of Ben's wife Miranda in the novel has been reshaped as the loss of his parents. The role played by Marsten House, which has haunted him as a child, is crucial to Ben's return to the town but the personal involvement was not much of a discussion in the movie.
2) The bridge between Ben Mears and the Marsten House
The Marsten House, owned by Hubert Marsten (Hubie) in the book has remained a bit out of focus as the creators of the film reportedly have not touched on the the history of the house. The movie has not explored the connection of Hubie to Barlow.
According to the book, Hubie, a child predator was lying low in the town of Maine as his connection with 'Breichen' (Barlow) eventually develops and leads to the latter entering Salem's Lot. Hubie loses his sanity over time and is responsible for murdering his wife, Birdie after which he commits suicide in the book. As a result, Marsten House is shown as an element of evil.
3) A change in Susan Norton's story
As mentioned in the book by Stephen King, Susan Norton is introduced as a town resident. However, things have reportedly been altered a bit in her first appearance as she crosses paths with Ben at an office where we see a quick romantic development between the two.
In the book, however, Susan and Ben's relationship is more gradual as he gets to meet her parents, Anne and Bill. Surprisingly, Bill, who had died a few years before Ben's arrival, will not be appearing on the big screen. Susan lives in Boston and visits the town to look after her sick father. However, she does not leave after that. Moreover, Anne plays a vital role as she ends up serving Barlow in the movie.
4) Dr. Cody of Salem's Lot appears as a woman
Originally portrayed as a male in the book, Dr. Jimmy Cody appears to be a woman in the movie. Alfre Woodard who played the part of Dr. Cody added on the character change saying that, initially written to be a man as in the earlier versions, Cody was modified later.
The role is as important as mentioned in the book but Dr. Cody tragically dies at the hands of Anne Norton. Dr. Cody always helped Ben and others fight off the evil from the town and also played a crucial role in saving Jerusalem's Lot.
5) The fate of Matthew Burke
Stephen King had originally mentioned that Matthew Burke aka Matt suffers a heart attack and dies in the hospital itself before the book wraps up. However, details have been reportedly changed in the movie where Matt makes it out only to die in a series of events that go down at the Marsten House involving Mark and Straker.
6) The movie Salem's Lot changes the story of Father Callahan
In the movie, Father Callahan gets limited screen time and ends up dead in an encounter with Barlow. In the book, Father Callahan is overpowered by Barlow and is made to leave town. However, his character makes a comeback in Dark Tower, a book series by Stephen King.
7) Susan turns into a vampire
In the book, Susan Norton reportedly falls prey to Barlow while she is on a mission to Marsten House as they are finding answers. Mark is lucky enough to make it out of there in one piece but Barlow catches Susan, bites her, and changes her into a vampire. She is finally killed by Ben.
However, things are altered in the movie when she does stay alive longer and returns to her mother to keep her safe. But by that time, Anne is already under the spell of Barlow. She uses Floyd to attack her daughter Susan who winds up as a vampire later in a car trunk. Later, she is faced by Ben near a snack shop and gets killed in a second attempt.
8) The ultimate face-off with Barlow, the fate of Ben and Mark
In the book, Marsten House plays an important role as a background for the final face-off between Barlow and Ben. But in the movie, the location has been changed to a town drive-in with vampires hiding in car trunks while Barlow takes shelter in a coffin.
Mark, who knocks down the giant screen of the drive-in using a car, kills a number of vampires. Ben deals with Susan and Barlow as the town eventually gets rid of all the evil forces that have ever prevailed.
Moreover, the movie reportedly keeps an open ending as there is no epilogue suggesting the return of the Ben-Mark duo who had initially fled Salem's Lot. So, the possibility of a sequel remains in question.
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Salem's Lot is currently available for streaming on HBO Max.
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