Off the Shelf: Salem's Lot (Blu-ray)

by Erich Asperschlager

I vant to suck your blooood, ayuh!

For his second novel, Stephen King tackled one of horror’s most entrenched genres: the vampire story. While the bloodsucking undead were still a quarter century from pop culture ubiquity, 1975’s Salem’s Lot still hit shelves with the baggage of Stoker, Murnau, and Lugosi in tow. It’s hard to say whether the move to capitalize on an existing monster was a good or bad idea. Salem’s Lot isn’t King’s most popular novel, but it is a creepy story well-told with his signature small town flavor. Four years after publication, Salem’s Lot found its way to the small screen, courtesy of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper, writer Paul Monash, and forward-thinking folks at Warner Bros. who realized the story would work better as a three-hour TV miniseries than a 90-minute feature film.

Some Stephen King movie adaptations are great, some are good, some are… not. Nearly all of them, however, feel cramped in some way. The author writes sprawling 1,000-page novels full of rich characters. It’s as difficult to fit those complex relationships into a feature film as it is easy to thrill audiences with on-screen depictions of his shocking set-pieces. Although there aren’t a ton of great examples, there’s an argument to be made that the ideal form for a King adaptation is the miniseries. Three to four hours isn’t necessarily long enough to capture a Stephen King novel, but it’s a lot closer.

Salem’s Lot is the story of Ben Mears (David Soul), a best-selling author who returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine, with plans to write a book about a large, spooky manor that overlooks the town. He is disappointed to discover that the ancient house is already being rented to a European antiques dealer named Straker (James Mason) who has set up shop on Main Street and is waiting for the arrival of his mysterious business partner, Kurt Barlow. As Mears settles back into small town life, reuniting with his favorite high school teacher (Lew Ayres) and starting a relationship with university grad student Susan Norton (Bonnie Bedelia), he can’t shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen. When the town is rocked by a series of deaths, disappearances, and neck bitings, Mears joins forces with monster-savvy high school student Mark Petrie (Lance Kerwin) to stop the evil.

Salem’s Lot is an oft-overlooked Stephen King book, but it might be the best of his adaptations. Hooper brings a stylish eye and horror filmmaking chops to the story. The movie isn’t bloody but it feels scarier than what should have been allowed on late ‘70s TV. Some of the creepiness comes from the vampire effects. When Barlow finally shows his face it’s not a pretty one: blue, with needle-sharp teeth and animal eyes. The vampiric townsfolk aren’t as grotesque, but nothing raises goosebumps quite like a floating, grinning dead child scratching at your bedroom window in the middle of the night.

The extended TV runtime allows for more storylines and characters. A shorter version of this movie would be laser-focused on Mears, Petrie, and the evil inhabitants of the Marsten House. Hooper’s version certainly compresses storylines and limits screen time for certain characters (for example, Father Callahan, who played a role in this book and King’s Dark Tower series), but there’s breathing room. Leaving space for more character moments gives Salem’s Lot the feeling of a fully populated Stephen King small town. Even if it all comes back to Barlow’s plan to take over the town, Hooper gives us a peek into day-to-day character lives, something that is too often cut from King movies.

Salem’s Lot is dated, but in a good way. The outfits and David Soul’s hairstyle root the film the 1970s, but it all fits the Halloween vibe of the story better than if it were set in modern day. Hooper and Return of the Living Dead cinematographer Jules Brenner have created a movie that feels more like a three hour epic feature than a made-for-TV affair. Salem’s Lot comes to Blu-ray alongside another King miniseries, IT. While the adventures of demon clown Pennywise is well-loved, that adaptation feels like something made for the small screen. Salem’s Lot doesn’t. The directing, production values, and performance of the incomparable James Mason all scream major motion picture. The only lingering indication of its television origins is a cast that features many TV actors, including Starsky & Hutch’s Soul, soap star Bonnie Bedelia, and comedian Fred Willard.

Though it was made for TV, Salem’s Lot is the best looking of the three new Warner Bros. Blu-rays. Chalk it up to filmmaking talent, source print quality, and scan technology. The transfer comes with similar caveats as Cat’s Eye and IT — most notably the tendency of shadows to swallow detail — but it’s hard to imagine the 1.37:1 1080p transfer looking any better without it getting the Scream Factory or Criterion “collector’s edition” treatment. Detail and color are sharp against a pleasant layer of grain, with no sign of nasty digital smoothing or damage. Anyone who has worn out the movie on VHS will be impressed. Audio comes as a DTS-HD Master Audio mono mix. What the sound lacks in blockbuster sizzle it makes up for with clarity.

Because this is essentially a budget disc, don’t expect many extras. There’s no additional “European Cut” of the film. No interviews. No retrospective. The only bonus feature is an audio commentary with Tobe Hooper — a cool guy and horror master with interesting things to say.

There’s a whole lot to like about Salem’s Lot. It’s almost incidental that Tobe Hooper’s three-hour Stephen King adaptation happens to have been made for television. You may be tired of vampire movies — I sure am — but Salem’s Lot is a refreshing throwback. King’s Downeast Gothic tale still thrills and chills on Blu-ray, so long as you don’t expect much more than the movie itself.

Blu-ray release date: September 20, 2016
183 minutes/1979/PG
1.37:1 (1080p)
DTS HD 1.0 Master Audio (English)
Subtitles: English (SDH), Spanish, French

Blu-ray bonus features:
Commentary

Off the Shelf: Stephen King's IT (Blu-ray)

by Erich Asperschlager

Beep beep!

Stephen King is known almost as much for movies based on his books as the books themselves. Lord knows there are plenty of both. Since almost the beginning of his career as a novelist, King’s brand of macabre pop has been as popular on the page as it is in movie theaters, VHS rentals, and small screen adaptations in the form of anthology episodes, one-offs, and TV miniseries. Although King movies have a reputation as being schlocky at worst and “not as good as the book” at best, some hit a cinematic sweet spot. The best Stephen King movies find a way to fit a full story into a feature-length runtime—usually under the careful eye (and judicious scalpel) of great filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, and Rob Reiner.

The 1990 made-for-TV miniseries IT isn’t one of the best Stephen King movies. It struggles to contain one of King’s most sprawling novels, rushing the story so it feels more like a summary of the book than an adaptation. The acting is uneven, especially comparing the young cast and their adult counterparts. It’s been neutered to fit TV standards. And yet, it’s a mostly satisfying King adaptation—a fan favorite deserving of a new Blu-ray release from Warner Bros.

IT is the story of an ancient evil in the town of Derry, Maine that manifests as a demonic clown named Pennywise (Tim Curry) and awakens to abduct and murder children every 30 years. In 1960, a group of seven school-aged misfits—Bill (Jonathan Brandis), Ben (Brandon Crane), Eddie (Adam Faraizl), Beverly (Emily Perkins), Richie (Seth Green), Stan (Ben Heller), and Mike (Marlon Taylor)—band together to face off against the clown,and the school bully (Jarred Blancard) who made it his mission to destroy them all. Fast forward to 1990. All of the kids are grown up, and all but one have moved away. Bill (Richard Thomas) is now a horror author, Ben (John Ritter) a wealthy architect, Eddie (Dennis Christopher) a limo company owner, Beverly (Annette O’Toole) a fashion designer, Richie (Harry Anderson) a famous comedian, and Stan (Richard Masur) a real estate agent, while Mike (Tim Reid) still lives in Derry, working in the library and keeping watch over the town. When a new generation of children start disappearing, Mike contacts his estranged friends one by one, holding each to a promise they made after their first battle with the clown: to come back if necessary and finish the fight.

Released in 1986, Stephen King’s novel IT is a massive tome clocking in at northwards of 1,100 pages. Like The Stand, this book has little business being adapted for a movie or TV. However, also like The Stand, IT was made into a fondly remembered TV miniseries. IT made a big impact when it debuted on in November 1990, partly for its story, partly for its boundary-pushing blood effects, and partly for a certain depiction of a particular Dancing Clown.

To most King fans who remember the miniseries, Tim Curry IS IT. Compared to the child and adult ensemble casts, he has barely any screentime. You can see where his bald cap attaches. He chews up, swallows, and spits out the scenery. None of it matters. Clowns are scary and Curry taps into something primal with his oddly clean, red-eyed, gruff voiced, occasionally sharp-toothed killer bozo. I don’t know much about the history of childhood coulrophobia, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that King kicked off at least the modern era of clown terror. Tim Curry’s take on the creature amplifies those inherent fears of a red-nosed planet. The actor known for playing dignified weirdness keeps just enough of his character off-kilter to make Pennywise seem like something from a nightmare, even on television. It’s no wonder kids of my generation who watched IT on TV haven’t been able to shake it since.

Even without Curry, IT stands out among King adaptations for the extra large cast. Plenty of movies have flashbacks with child actors playing young versions of older characters, but few require that both generations pull the same weight. The adult players are easier to praise, brimming with the star power of actors like John Ritter, Harry Anderson, and Annette O’Toole, but the kids (including a young Seth Green and Jonathan Brandis) are asked to shoulder a lot of dramatic weight. The unseen-monster-picking-off-kids story has sequences reminiscent of A Nightmare on Elm Street, including a bloody sink explosion, werewolf attack in a steamy school basement, and a gym locker room scene where a child is terrorized by telescoping shower heads spraying scalding water. The kids don’t always give the most natural performances, but they feel like genuine friends—the kind who care enough about each other to reunite after 30 years and face off against an ancient evil.

The two-part miniseries is loosely split into the ‘60s story in the first half and the ‘90s story in the second. In 3 hour movie mode, that divide is less obvious. The two halves of the complicated story are woven together in an impressive mix of editing, screenwriting, and performance. There are narrative shortcuts, creaky dialogue, and a laughably bad rubber monster, but with something like IT it’s worth watching to see whether the filmmakers can pull it off. For the most part, they do.

Director and co-writer Tommy Lee Wallace got his start working as an editor and production designer with John Carpenter before going on to helm Halloween III and Fright Night 2. IT isn’t a sequel but it does have a second run feel, whether because it’s an adaptation of a popular novel or because it bears the dreaded “made for TV” label. Dismissing it for being either would be a mistake. The film has a bigger budget and more artistry than your average disposable TV movie. That it’s regularly included in the running for best King adaptations is evidence of that.

IT is one of a Warner Bros. trio of Stephen King films newly out on Blu-ray. Fans of the movie should be excited to have it in HD, just as long as they aren’t expecting much else. The new 1080p 1.33:1 Blu-ray transfer looks great, especially for something that originally aired on TV and made its home video bones on VHS (the video tape behind Pennywise is still visible in the cover art). There’s no doubt IT looks better than it has before, but the visual upgrade has limitations. Detail, color, and contrast are best in well-lit scenes and close-ups. The dark scenes are a different story. Shadows swallow detail and make for a generally muddier picture. What you think of the transfer will also depend on how much you like film grain. The ‘60s scenes seem to have a much heavier layer of grain than the modern day story for some reason. None of which should keep interested parties from buying the Blu-ray. Just adjust your expectations accordingly. Audio is presented as 2.0 DTS-MA. It sounds fine. Again, adjust those expectations.

The disc’s only bonus feature is a group audio commentary with Wallace, John Ritter, Dennis Christopher, Tim Reid, and Richard Thomas. It’s fun and insightful, but it’s also the same commentary that was on the DVD. Considering these Warner discs are low-price offerings compared to the feature-rich, pricier Scream Factory sets, the lack of new extras is understandable -- if disappointing.

Stephen King’s IT should have been unfilmable. Made for TV, its depictions of child murder, vicious bullying, and evil should be neutered. Tim Curry in clown makeup should be a joke. For the most part, it’s none of those things. The ‘90s miniseries can’t match the character development and world-building of the book, but it juggles a lot and manages some legitimate scares. The new Blu-ray offers fans a clearer look an ambitious King adaptation whose influence can still be felt today. By which I mean, they are remaking it. Sadly, IT’s journey to hi-def doesn’t come with any new supplemental materials, but as a budget release it should help round out many a future Scary Movie Month playlist.