This begins happening more frequently, with some returning as something other than their human selves.īen and a small group of locals including a doctor and priest band together, and discover that Barlow is actually an ancient vampire and the culprit behind the recent deaths and disappearances. Soon after their arrival, a young boy in the town goes missing while another seemingly turns up dead. But someone has moved in - a man by the name of Kurt Barlow, an Austrian immigrant who has opened a local antique shop with the help of a business partner. He's come to write a book about a long-abandoned house formerly owned by a hitman, where he once had a terrifying experience as a child. Salem's Lot sees writer Ben Mears return to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine, after 25 years away. "Here's a unique idea: do the book," King tweeted following the announcement of Dauberman as director. It's not clear what (if any) role he'll have in this new adaptation, though he did offer up some biting advice about its creative direction. More than 60 of his 200-plus short stories, novels, and novellas have received some kind of screen treatment, with varying degrees of faithfulness to the source material they have run the gamut from genre-shifting to embarrassing, with King creatively involved in some more than others. Released in 1975 and inspired by Bram Stoker's classic Dracula, the book was King's second published novel.Ī significant chunk of the Stephen King multiverse has been adapted for film or television throughout the horror master's career. The story follows Ben Mears, a writer who returns to his hometown after 25 years and discovers that residents are being turned into vampires.
Unlike some of King's other titles, Salem's Lot has only gotten the TV treatment: a 1979 miniseries with Poltergeist director Tobe Hooper, and a 2004 adaptation starring Rob Lowe and directed by TV veteran Mikael Salomon ( Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Damien).