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The Sublime and Superior Salem's Lot

As a vampire aficionado I have always enjoyed the 1979 miniseries Salem's Lot. But over the past several years I've grown to Love this series.

First off, before we really get into the meat and potatoes of this miniseries, we have to give props to Count Barlow. This Master vampire is the real deal. He is one of the coolest and eeriest vampires in television or film. Barlow's rat-like teeth, and like Nosferatu's Count Orlok's generations before him, strike an uneasiness down your spine. Recent rewatches of Salem's Lot I noticed just how scary the master really is. Watching this back in my younger days I sorta felt like Barlow was an imposter from the days of disco. Today however I think he completely instills fear in these characters and it's easy to see why. When we see the Master come through the kitchen window and kill the boy's parents, before his face-off with the shaman, the priest, Barlow's disgusting and horrific countenance are striking. The older I got the better this series got.

Vampire teeth, and their fangs, are an easy part of the film for producers to get wrong. Don't even get me started on Twilight... But the fangs here of characters like Mike Ryerson, the Glick Brothers, or even Mamma Glick in the 'Lot look amazing. They have a perfect length, and a nice curve at the bottom inwards; they look designed by evolution to pierce the artery and allow unimpeded the fount of blood to flow into the throat. A nice shape and size all around, honestly. They look good. As does the fledgling vampires' deathly blue hue. Their hypnotic glowing yellow eyes also are stunning features of these vampires. Really, not bad at all for late 1970s TV fair. In the words of Ichabod Crane, "bravo, brava, bravi! to the makeup artists for getting it right.

Another character I really like is Straker, the Master's watchdog and resident ghoul. He is a soft-spoken British badass. He doesn't say much, but he really doesn't have to. He has these soft yet piercing eyes that can either frighten you silly or make you feel safe and at ease. One of his final scenes in the series sees him open a door and startle the dr. and father character. We think that the two will talk about tea and crumpets, but instead the calm and cool Straker walks up to the dr., picks him up as easy as an adult scoops up an infant, and walks him toward his death. Quickly he steadies the good dr. unto a wall filled with antlers, not very different from how Michael kills David in The Lost Boys, as efficiently as he mounts a frame.


The climax of this miniseries is a bit too short for my taste but feels very Hammer horror in its expediency to wrap up the story. With the sun quickly falling behind the horizon, Ben Mears makes like Van Helsing and stake's the Master's heart in his wicker basket coffin. After 37 smacks with the hammer, the Master is dead. Long live Barlow... There is no big showdown fight between Mears and Barlow. And so the ending leaves a bit to be desired, honestly.

After a sequel and two remakes, the original Salem's Lot still holds up as the best adaptation of King's novel in my opinion.

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