Stephen King's 1975 horror novel Salem's Lot is getting its first-ever feature film adaptation this year, at the hands of screenwriter and director Gary Dauberman. The book, which is King's second published novel, falls under the haunted house and vampire subgenres of horror and has been adapted as a miniseries twice: first by Tobe Hooper in 1979, and then by Mikael Salomon in 2004.

The author of Carrie, The Shining, and It (which remains the highest-grossing horror movie of all time), Stephen King adaptations rarely miss, so of course, the buzz around Salem's Lot is strong. With fans eager to know more about the movie, and its release date on the horizon, here's what to expect from the upcoming remake.

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Plot

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Salem's Lot follows writer Ben Mears who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot (nicknamed Salem's Lot) after 25 years to gain inspiration for his next novel. Planning to write about the old Marsten House, which comes with a dark haunted history, Mears learns the property has been purchased by business partners Kurt Barlow and Richard Straker who want to turn the place into an antique furniture store.

Barlow, an Austrian immigrant, is absent from town on an alleged buying trip, but Mears is suspicious. When he discovers the residents of Salem's Lot are being turned into vampires, Mears suspects the eccentric antiques dealer is to blame and assembles a ragtag group of people to protect his hometown.

Cast

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Playing Ben Mears is rising actor Lewis Pullman. Best known for his roles in The Strangers Prey At Night and Bad Times at the El Royale, Pullman recently starred in Top Gun: Maverick, as supporting character Bob, and Amazon Prime's neo-Western sci-fi series Outer Range, as Josh Brolin's on-screen son, Rhett Abbott. Taking the lead in Salem's Lot, it's likely this will be Pullman's breakout role. Makenzie Leigh joins Pullman as Ben's love interest, Susan Norton. A relatively unknown actress — her biggest acting role so far is as Faison in Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk — Salem's Lot holds a lot of promise for Leigh, too.

One actor that many will recognise is William Sadler, who plays Barlow in the upcoming adaptation. Sadler has starred in several blockbuster movies, including the Stephen King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Other cast members include Pilou Asbæk (Ghost in the Shell, Uncharted) as Barlow's business partner, Straker; Bill Camp (Dark Waters, The Queen's Gambit) as teacher Matthew Burke; Spencer Treat Clark (Gladiator, Glass) as resident Mike Ryerson; and Alfre Woodard (Star Trek: First Contact, 12 Years a Slave) as Dr Cody.

Crew

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Gary Dauberman initially signed on to Salem's Lot as the screenwriter, however, last year it was announced he would also direct the movie. Dauberman is known for writing the following movies in The Conjuring universe: Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, and Annabelle Comes Home — the latter of which marks his directorial debut. Dauberman also wrote the screenplays for It and It: Chapter 2, so this is not his first time adapting a Stephen King novel.

Dauberman will be joined by producers James Wan, Mark Wolper, Roy Lee, and others. Horror fans will recognise James Wan as the director of Insidious, Malignant, and many of The Conjuring movies. Unsurprisingly, Wan appears to be a huge fan of Stephen King; when King posted to Twitter: "I watched Malignant on HBO and thought it was brilliant," Wan reshared the tweet to his Instagram with the caption: "For all us genre/horror outcasts, there’s really only one person’s validation that we seek" (along with a series of crying emojis).

Release Date

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Salem's Lot was originally scheduled to be released in theatres on September 9th, 2022 by Warner Bros. Pictures, but it was recently pushed back until April 21, 2023. The movie will also be available to stream on HBO Max 45 days after its release. Fans of King will be happy to know another adaptation of his is in the works.

Last year it was announced that Sony Pictures and Blumhouse will produce a new version of King's 1983 novel Christine that Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, American Gods) will direct. Christine tells the story of a car possessed by demonic forces and has already been adapted as a horror movie by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing). Though whilst Salem's Lot will reportedly remain close to its source material, the remake of Christine is expected to differ slightly.

Only recently, King's 1980 sci-fi novel Firestarter was made into a movie directed by Keith Thomas and starring Zac Efron. Firestarter follows a girl with pyrokinetic abilities and her worried parents as they try to evade a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her gift. Though the book was a New York Times bestseller, the recent movie was a flop, with a current rating of 4.6 on IMDb and 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. Fortunately, there are many reasons to believe Salem's Lot won't follow in its footsteps.

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