In 2004 we got another television adaptation of Salem’s Lot it was directed by Mikael Salomon and starred Rob Lowe in the starring role of Ben Mears, this adaptation is based in the early 2000’s and was filmed in Australia.

The plot here is very similar to the 1979 adaptation which we have already looked at so I won’t go into too much detail here, but to sum it up the series follows a writer as he returns to his childhood town discovering it to slowly be overridden by vampires.

This particular mini series is often looked at in a negative light when compared to the far superior 1979 mini series but personally I really appreciated this for what it gave us.

The casting here is absolutely fantastic and in many ways is better than the original mini series, we have some big stars and veterans to the acting scene in this not only including Rob Lowe as Ben Mears but also Donald Pleasence as Richard Straker, Andre Braher as Matt Burke, Samantha Mathis as Susan Norton and James Cromwell as Father Callahan, all of these performances are very memorable and each actor put everything they had into their roles.

Donald Pleasence is one of my favourite actors and is amazing in almost every project he works on, here is no exception he plays Richard Straker and gives the character a new lease of life with his drugged up and more eccentric take on the manipulative and sly figure.

James Cromwell deserve some recognition for his portrayal of father Callahan a bit of a bad ass priest with a drinking problem. Cromwell gives the character a real sense of leadership, control and doing everything he can to send the vampires back to hell. I will discuss Callahan’s character in more detail during our book review.

I finally want to give credit to Dan Byrd who plays the teenager Mark Petrie he gave the character a more heroic arc than we saw in the 1979 version, I like this Mark he’s really cool and for a kid he can seriously handle is own and isn’t afraid to get into a fight if need be. The 1979 Mark was one of the highlights of that version but he was more wimpy and we never really saw him get into much action, Byrd’s portrayal is much more enjoyable and overall someone I feel will more likely have the audience rooting for them.

A modern day setting works really well for this, the series actually begins and ends in a modern hospital where a dying Ben Mears is on life support after falling out of a window while battling with Father Callahan, a really great and gripping start to this series and along with narration throughout the production provided by Rob Lowe really helps to keep the audience understanding exactly what is going on and how the character of Ben Mears is feeling and thinking during specific moments.

To be honest I really like this version and I think it has a lot going for it, providing a much different experience to the classic 1979 series but also in a lot ways a different story because this does have a lot more side stories from the novel as well as some that were made specifically for this series and unfortunately in many that was its downfall.

The two episode run of this is so crammed together that everything happens so quickly and it is difficult to really understand characters motives or to really feel much connection with what’s going on during these side plots making certain dramatic moments not having much of a reaction from me personally.

Now you may consider this criticism a little bit harsh but I will say that both version have this issue and its simply down to the fact that Salem’s Lot really needed a television series with at least one full season to really make sure that all of the really important stuff is covered and to also make sure that they help audiences really connect with the towns folk.

Lets not forget that in the original book the vampire stuff doesn’t happen until around the half way point but that discussion will be coming up next in our wrap of this Salem’s Lot series.

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