Salem’s Lot has risen again!
Stephen King’s 1975 vampire novel, which was turned into a TV miniseries both in 1979 and 2004, is back again, and this time, it’s a tightly-paced, feature-length adaptation directed by Gary Dauberman (writer of The Nun and both of King’s newest It films) that is currently streaming on Max.
Starring Lessons in Chemistry‘s Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, an author who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot only to find the quaint hamlet overrun with bloodsuckers, the film—which was originally targeted for theatrical release—has lost a lot of the book’s scope in exchange for expediency, but there are still enough solid scares to make it a worthy addition to anyone’s spooky season viewing.
Even for the cast, apparently. During our recent chat with Pullman and costars Makenzie Leigh (who plays Ben’s love interest Susan), Alfre Woodard (town physician Dr. Cody), and Spencer Treat Clark (sweet but doomed laborer Mike), the actors explained that making a horror movie comes with its own eerieness.
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max
“There is something kind of intoxicating about [them],” offers Pullman, pointing out that Lot wouldn’t exactly work if it was filmed during regular work hours. Vampires like to sleep in. “It is those night shoots, there’s this kind of sense of delusion that you go into, this bizarre intoxication where you kind of are loopy, and it really lends itself to the film. And I think what you see on camera is just this kind of bizarre, zombie delusion.”
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max
For Woodard, it didn’t really matter whether the scene was on location or on set. In fact, she had her own frights to deal with while filming the movie’s terrifying sequence set in a dank morgue. “It’s all fun and games when you’re inside!” she laughs. “It was just creepy and it was wet and cold.” Still, she adds, the unsettling vibe all added to the experience.
RelatedHow Will the ‘Salem’s Lot’ Remake Compare to the Original?
“That’s what makes us like to be scared…because we know it’s all going to be all right. But we like that exhilaration and then we like to giggle about it and be scared again!”
Salem’s Lot, Streaming Now, Max
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