Salem's Lot: The Movie

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& Serendipity Productions, Inc. & Warner Bros. Inc./Not Rated</B></div> <div> <B></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Teleplay.........Paul Monash</B></div> <div> <B>Music............Harry Sukman</B></div> <div> <B>Producer.........Richard Kobritz (Christine, Somebody's Watching Me)</B></div> <div> <B>Director of Photography..Jules Brenner</B></div> <div> <B>Executive Producer.......Stirling Silliphant</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Dramatis Personae</U></B></div> <div> <B>Mark Petrie.......Lance Kerwin (Enemy Mine, James at 15-TV, Side Show)</B></div> <div> <B>Straker...........James Mason (The Blue Max,Lolita, North by Nothwest)</B></div> <div> <B>Susan Norton......Bonnie Bedelia (Die Hard & 2, Needful Things)</B></div> <div> <B>Jason Burke.......Lew Ayres (Donovan's Brain, Omen II, She Waits)</B></div> <div> <B>Bonnie Sawyer.....Julie Cobb</B></div> <div> <B>Weasel............Elisha Cook (Dillinger, Rosemary's Baby, Shane)</B></div> <div> <B>Cullie Sawyer.....George Dzundza (Basic Instinct,Best Defense, Impulse)</B></div> <div> <B>Dr. Norton........Ed Flanders (The Amazing Howard Hughes, Exorcist III)</B></div> <div> <B>Marjorie Glick....Clarissa Kaye</B></div> <div> <B>Mike Ryerson......Geoffrey Lewis (Dracula (1973), The Fury, Tintorera)</B></div> <div> <B>Ned Tebbits.......Barney McFadden</B></div> <div> <B>Parkins Gillespie.Kenneth McMillan (Cat's Eye, Dune, The Killing Hour)</B></div> <div> <B>Barlow............Reggie Nalder (Mark of the Devil & Part 2, Zoltan)</B></div> <div> <B>Larry Crocket.....Fred Willard (Americathon, Fernwood 2-nite, Roxanne)</B></div> <div> <B>Eva Miller........Marie Windsor (Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy)</B></div> <div> <B>Ted Petrie........Joshua Bryant</B></div> <div> <B>Father Callahan...James Gallery</B></div> <div> <B>Danny Glick.......Brad Savage (Islands in the Stream)</B></div> <div> <B>Ralphie Glick.....Ronnie Scribner</B></div> <div> <B>Henry Glick.......Ned Wilson</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Critique</U></B><B>: A succesful author visits his home town to discover a vampire epidemic. Although a bit slow to get going, Hooper delivers all the old vampire tricks in a film glutted with vampire tradition, indeed the vampires live (reside?) at a very Norman Bates looking house which is clearly the inspiration for the vampire's lair in </B><I><B>Fright Night</B></I><B>, among other similarities between these two. While the pace is not exactly relentless, just when the lack of relentlessness dawns on you, a truly scary vampire or the "Master" suddenly pops up again. The Master is a horrifying Nosferatu-lookalike (F.W. Murnau-1922) with glowing eyes (and predates the Herzog-Kinski Nosferatu). Indeed the nods to the Murnau-Max Schreck vampire are the highlights of the film and are even improvements on the classic. As made for television go, this counts as a classic. Great colors, fine acting, great vampires!, classic mood (the moon, the fire, the house) and some real cinemagraphic scares from Tobe Hooper with a Stephen King-esque expose on small-town visciousness make this a great vampire movie. The ending is a thrilling roller-coaster ride. How is it that no Hollywood vampire movies rank higher than this and another TV movie of the week </B><I><B>The Night Stalker</B></I><B>? Originally a 3 1/2 hour TV miniseries in 1979.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Plot Summary</U></B><B>: Salem's Lot, Maine, Pop. 2013, El. 289. Author Ben Mears, a childhood resident, arrives in his yellow Jeep looking for a place to rent. He moves into the boarding house to work on his book about the Marsten house, which he believes is a source of evil. On a walk through the woods he encounters a beautiful young art teacher, Susan Norton, reading one of his books. Mears is recently widowed, and Susan is available for dinner. The scary Marsten house, which Mears had hoped to rent, has been sold to the rather frightening antique dealer Straker "Good evening!" and his silent partner whom no one has ever seen, Kurt Barlow. Mears has dinner with Susan, then they go parking at the Lake. Everybody wants to know what he's really doing at Salem's Lot. Straker hires real estate agent Crocker to provide two men (plumber Tebbitts and gravedigger Ryerson), take his truck to the Portland loading docks to pick up a delivery, and procure four heavy padlocks. The crate wheighs a ton and is strangely cold. When they unload it at Marsten House, they become spooked and run away without locking it. The resident monster expert, teenaged Mark Petrie, works on the school play with his friends, then they go home via a shortcut. The Glick brothers become separated. Their parents find Danny unconscious in the yard, Ralph remains missing. Fat drunk Cully finds his wife in bed with the Crockett, tortures him for a while, then lets him go only to be grabbed by a vampire. Mr. Straker is not pleased when he sees the abandoned crate upon returning to the cellar that night with the body of little Ralphie Glick, whom he has just killed. Mears visits Holly Jr. High School to see an old teacher, Mr. Burke, but he bumps into Susan and her angry plumber ex-boyfriend Ned Tebbetts. At Dinner with Mr. Burke, they talk of the old Marsten house, which has been considered haunted since Ben's childhood. Mears claims to have seen the hanged ghost of Hubie Marsten in the house as a child and believes the house itself could be evil. Dr. Norton can't tell what's wrong with Danny. Meanwhile the townsmen are searching for Ralph and find a shred of black cloth. Mears notes that "Straker always wears a black suit." The Sheriff decides to pay Straker a visit to inspect his suits, and Straker promises to bring his suits to town. That night Danny lies dying in the hospital when vampire Ralphie flies to his window. Hypnotized, Danny opens the window and his brother bites his neck. Straker correctly surmises that he is a suspect in the disappearance of the boy because he is an odd stranger. Gravedigger Ryerson becomes transfixed while burying Danny, jumps into the grave,  opens the casket, and Danny gets him. The next night Mark receives a visit from Danny but Mark has the presence of mind--being a horror expert--to take a cross from his vampire model and ward off his false friend. Mr. Burke calls Ben and tells him to come quickly with a crucifix. Ryerson lies with no pulse and the window is open although it had been locked. Dr. Norton reports no other cases of exhaustion or bad dreams, but Mears and Mr. Burke predict a slew of them. Mears visits Mr. Straker and discusses the Marsten House history of murder with him. Upon Mears' return to the boarding house, Tebbitts pounds on him for trying to steal his girl. In the hospital as a result, Mears requests a crucifix. Meanwhile at Mr. Burke's house, dead Ryerson is sitting in a rocking chair, waiting, but the teacher pulls a cross on him and sends him out the window only to collapse with a heart attack. At the same time, the king of the vampires visits mean Tebbitts at the prison. Danny's Mother is dead, too, with the same symtoms as Tebbitts. Mr. Burke is in stable condition. Mears is bent on destroying the evil at the Marsten house and surrounds Susan's house with the requisite antivampire props. Dr. Norton informs Mears that the bodies of Tebbitts and a baby are missing from the morgue. As Mark's family discusses his psychosis, Mr. Straker and the Master (Barlow) break in and kill Mark's parents and trade Mark for the priest. Mark points at the Master and vows, "I'm going to kill you!" Dr. Norton becomes concinced by the vampire theory when he and Mears observe, then fight vampire Mrs. Glick in the morgue. The Sheriff packs and leaves. A full-blown vampire plague is wiping out Salem's Lot when Mark and Susan are captured at the Marsten House by Straker. Both are scheduled to meet the master and join Barlow's minions in the vampire's cellar. Mark escapes and Mears and Norton arrive. Straker kills Norton and Mears kills Straker. It is too late to help Susan,  but as the sun sets, the boys find Barlow's coffin and drive a stake through his heart. There are so many monsters in the house, Mears sets fire to it. Now committed to ridding the world of the pests, Mears and Mark arrive at a church in central America where Mears sadly drives a stake into vampire Susan. It is clear that their work has only begun.</B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>