The script makes a couple of artistic choices -- emphasizing how basically everyone in the Lot has a dirty secret, or aren't as pure as they appear to be, thus creating an opening for Barlow to enter -- and re-framing King's original "The town is yours, and you are the town's" chapter epigrams as Mears' monologue. The vampire effects and horror portions fall mostly flat (with partial exceptions for the Ralphie-in-hospital and Floyd-in-vent bits). Feels like this remake didn't have anywhere left to go without directly mimicking the first (1979) adaptation -- which is getting a little dated, yes, but still grabs the viewer in a deep, wide-eyed place.

Rob Lowe let slip in his memoirs, years later, that Rutger Hauer (Barlow) came to the set woefully unprepared, hadn't studied his lines, actually improvised some whack-job narrative about "I used to be a cowboy" during the Mears-and-Barlow coffin confrontation, requiring director Salomon to admonish the Dutchman for not taking his role seriously. Pretty sure Hauer is reading his lines off the coffin-lid in that final sequence, and, well, that pretty much summarizes his commitment and stage-presence throughout the rest of the film. This adaptation isn't a total failure, but it's in the middle or bottom half of King celluloid.

King's material so rarely makes it to the screen properly. I've all but given up hope on seeing anything from him in the theater or on television that is worth watching.

He's a master of horror, drama, and suspense. A writer that our grandchildren will likely study in school; as we've studied so many classics in different genres. But when our grandchildren take those college-level classic literature courses, I do hope they leave out the details on the screen-adaptations of such "classics" as Pet Semetary or Maximum Overdrive or Christine...

That said, there are a few gems that stick out - in the horror genre. I'm not going to debate the merits of Shawshank or The Green Mile or Stand By Me. We all know that those are ... different.

The Stand was butchered. They had the right idea, at least - not to try to tell the story in 2 hours. But they were on the right track. The Storm of the Century was decent. But that was written specifically for television.

Which brings us to my point - Salem's Lot. A great book. A good original film (given the era...not so great anymore). And now, this new version. Fans of King decry just about anything that taints their memory of the original work. Me, I'm just happy to see it done decently after so many disappointments. This new version is pretty good. There are plenty of changes ("updates") to the story and characters - and the fans have whined incessantly about it. But they were necessary to avoid anachronistic cheese and to help the viewer relate better to the characters. The story is well-paced and it actually looks really good. There is a notable lack of campy filler and the usual dung that litters the majority of King's past films/series.

All in all, I give it 7 out of 10. Well worth the watch.