James Wan's Salem's Lot remake is on the way, adding another title to the long list of Stephen King adaptations and remakes of his source material. While there have already been several adaptations of Salem's Lot, the 1979 television miniseries from Tobe Hooper is widely regarded as the best, but Wan's remake has the potential to sur it.
Tobe Hooper had already made a name for himself in horror with 1974's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but a switch to television with its harsher restrictions, was a definite change of pace from his gritty, cannibal slasher film. Not only was Salem's Lot stylistically different for Hooper, it was a measure of restraint where he had to build more subtle scares and work with the overall tone of King's novel to build dread about the cursed town of Jerusalem's Lot as it's slowly overrun by vampires.
Salem's Lot had a direct sequel, A Return to Salem's Lot and eventually got another TV adaptation from TNT and Warner Bros in 2004. While this book has been adapted more often for television, Stephen King's works on the whole have been very successful in a movie format, with smash hits like IT, The Shining, and Carrie standing out as some of the best adaptations of King's stories. Salem's Lot requires a deft hand and specific knowledge set to bolster its spooky atmosphere, and James Wan seems like the perfect person for the job.
How James Wan's Salem's Lot Movie Can Sur Hooper's Miniseries
The Conjuring universe. From there, he stayed in a paranormal horror space and worked on projects like Lights Out and the Insidious franchise. However, Wan is a jack of all trades, and extended his talents outside of the horror genre by directing Furious 7, Aquaman, and the DC Universe television series, Swamp Thing. He also produced the Mortal Kombat movie.
Tobe Hooper was still relatively new to directing when he made Salem's Lot, but went on to have an incredibly successful career with films like The Funhouse, Poltergeist, and other installments of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. Hooper primarily stuck to horror, and became known as a master of horror alongside other greats like John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and George A. Romero. While Hooper's vision for Salem's Lot was fully realized and a wonderful adaptation overall, Wan has the skills and team assembled to sur the original.
Gary Dauberman, who penned the scripts for Annabelle Comes Home and IT: Chapter Two, is writing the screenplay for Salem's Lot and has an approach that has served King adaptations well in the past: he intends to stay very true to the novel, which is part of where Hooper strayed. Hooper's version of Kurt Barlow drew inspiration by adapting traits of one of the most well-known vampire films in history, Nosferatu. In the novel, Barlow is a more charming vampire like Dracula. The 2004 adaptation reverted to this with Rutger Hauer in the role of Barlow, which was a welcome change. The writer has stated an interest in playing around with vampire lore by making them scary again, which hasn't been done properly in a while. Dauberman's script coupled with Wan's excellent eye for spooky tales could be a sure win, but the Salem's Lot remake is still in its early stages.
