The fictitional town of Jerusalem's Lot created by Stephen King in his novel, now comes to life through the movie Salem's Lot directed by Gary Dauberman.
Adapted from the original book Salem's Lot, the movie is centered around protagonist Ben Mears(played by Lewis Pullman), who returns to his hometown just to find it haunted by a vampire. With the help of a few friends, Ben tries to drive the evil away from the town.
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Salem's Lot was released on October 3, 2024 as a remake of its 1979 version. The filming had started in 2021 and continued till next year as a number of locations were exploreed in the process. As a backdrop for Salem's Lot, various places across Massachusetts were chosen by Dauberman for the filmmaking. To know more about Salem's Lot filming locations, follow this article.
Various filming locations of Salem's Lot
A. Massachussets:
(1) Clinton
Three towns of Massachusetts (Worcester County) namely Sterling, Ipswich and Clinton were chosen as the major shooting locations for Salem's Lot. According to reports, the residences of various characters of the movie are houses located in Clinton. For the movie to look like a story set in the 70's, modern cars had to be replaced from the streets of Clinton.
The building shown as Marsten House in Salem's Lot was specially prepared for the purpose of shooting sequences in Clinton. The house is a ground of sinister activities involving Barlow (the vampire) as shown in the movie. Later, it also becomes the spot for various adventures of Ben and his friends, as they witness a line of horrific developments.
(2) Sterling
Sterling, another town in Massachusetts, serves as the shooting spot of the sequence where Matt Burke (played by Bill Camo) has a face-off with Mike Ryerson (Spencer Treat Clark) after he had turned into a vampire.
According to reports, Dauberman had made use of a tavern located in Sterling for the above mentioned scene, as he tried to maintain the eerie atmosphere appropriate for the movie's tone.
(3) Ipswich
For sequences showcasing police stations and lockups, the town of Ipswich had played an important role. We witness Father Callahan waking up in a cell of Salem's Lot, after being drunk the night before - Ipswich was the place where these scenes were shot.
The use of real places from three towns of Massachusetts helped to give Salem's Lot the tyical small-town appearance with its dark atmosphere suited for the theme of the story.
B. Princeton Public Library:
The library shown in Jerusalem's Lot is actually the Public Library of Princeton, as per reports. It is one of the most important spots among the Salem's Lot filming locations. In Salem's Lot, we see Ben often using this place for his research. Moreover, the scene were Ben encounters Susan for the second time was shot in this library.
The production unit had reportedly paid $20,000 to Princeton for using the place as a shooting location. Computers and all kinds of electronic equipments were removed from the library, as it had to look like one from the 1970's. The outsides of Princeton Library had a rose granite appearance with black slated roof - perfect for the vintage look of the movie, thus making it a good choice for one of Salem's Lot filming locations.
What were the filming locations of the previous adaptations?
Salem's Lot had two more adaptations before this - one in 1979, which was a movie and the other in 2004, a mini-series. The filming locations chosen for these two pieces are quite different from what we see in the 2024 Salem's Lot.
For the 1979 movie, Ferndale in California served as one of Salem's Lot filming locations, including all the important scenes of the Marsten House as well as other places in the town.
On the other hand, the mini-series of 2004 had explored various places of Victoria, Australia. Storefronts of Creswick were modified to give it the appearance of Maine Town, which had supposedly experienced a recent snowfall.
Over the years, we have seen filmmakers travel to various countries in order to bring King's supernatural horror novel to life.
Also read: Salem's Lot book vs movie: Every major change the 2024 film has made
Salem's Lot is now available for streaming on Max.
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