Salem's Lot - The Mini Series [2004] - DVD (Rob Lowe, Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer - Dir: Mikael Salomon)

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Customer Reviews of Salem's Lot - The Mini Series [2004]

John Ryan Howard
Republic of Ireland
20th December 2008

A much finer adapation of the Stephen King classic
I was quite satisfied upon watching this version of Salem's Lot. There are great performances from Donald Sutherland, Rob Lowe, Rutger Hauer and Dan Bryd among many others. The characters were more 3 dimensional and much more vivid than seen previously. I felt this mini-series moves along at a nice pace, slow enough to establish the characters and their relationships yet fast enough so you're not bored(as i was whilst watching the orignal). In conclusion, an accurate adaptation of Stephen King's timeless classic novel - Salem's Lot. Highly recommended and I don't know why there would be any negative reviews about it at all.

Eternal Student
UK
22nd April 2008

You need to be a fan to enjoy it!
If you're a King or vampire fan then you'll probably love this, it starts off showing a lot of potential but then goes down hill from there on.

I must admit I found it too daft really. I prefer to have the suggestion of something disturbing rather than showing something totally unrealistic, such as some crazed child corpse gnawing away at his mate's neck. Did his parents forget to buy any Jaffa Cakes that week??

I would say this is mediocre at best and my husband actually left part way through to do the dishes. So obviously hiring it again next week, ENOUGH SAID!!!!!

N. R. Jones

19th April 2008

A poor return to Salem's Lot
I was quite looking forward to a different take on Stephen King's classic.
What a disappointment! This version lacks everything that the original mini series did wonderfully well. The characters were weaker in almost every instance - even Donald Sutherland was an inferior Straker. Despite more realistic special effects, the suspense was not maintained and the ending seemed to go on for ever. I think the director also made the mistake of trying to include too much of the original story, making the film an overbloated, feast of boredom.

A soul doctor, so to say
OLLIERGUES France
16th December 2007

The vampire us still the enemy because he is foreign
This recent (2004) TV film is adapted from Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot. This adaptation had been waited for and expected by many years since the first old adaptation and especially the scandalous second episode that had transformed Jerusalem's Lot into a blood farm for a community of vampires. This adaptation is very faithful to the novel though it adds a different end in concentrating the hatred against vampires onto the probably catholic priest who had been obliged to drink some of the vampire's blood, going as far as making the main character trace him in New York and kill him, though in a traditional way, which makes us doubt he will die. The second element in this film is the great dynamism, the upgrading and updating of the world that has cell phones and other modern technology. This gives to the film a modern look and feel and that is good and bracing. The characters are also speaking today's language and behaving in today's fashion. The film has also gotten rid of some of the gross surreal if not supernatural elements in the very looks of the two culprits, the vampire and his ghoul. They look so much more human than in previous adaptations. But I remain doubtful about the message of the film, or of the novel. The vampire is in no way regenerated and the myth is taken in exactly the same terms as it had always been taken, or nearly, up to Anne Rice's rewriting of it. I think this vision is making the audience get used to the necessity to kill and destroy the foreigner because he is the very image of evil, even if he does not look evil at all. This adaptation also has the merit of lightening the sentimental side of things, the various love affairs and the innuendo about such possible sexual perspectives. Everything is better concentrated on the vampire and his action and conquest of the town.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

Universal adventurer - travelling the globe, eradicating fear and sadness; bringing joy to those who will choose happiness.
The universe is my oyster.
31st October 2007

Pleasantly surprised.
I was a real fan of the original movie and then the book. The wrong way round, I know, but I was only ten and then along came this. Now I really hoped for something brilliant but didn't quite get that. I expected absolute trash but didn't get that either. What I thought we got was a fairly faithful take on the book and a stand up good try at re-making what I think is the best horror flick of all time. I quite like modern re-makes because they give you something new even if it is just a change of cast - I watch stage plays with different casts all the time. Some are better than others but we don't suggest there should only ever be one version. So I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy Rob Lowe and his mates running around The Lot and giving me the chance to hide behind the furniture all over again. Go on, give it a chance.