The long-delayed adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot is finally about to release, and we have a trailer to boot.
It’s been a long time coming but the Warner Bros adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 vampire horror novel Salem’s Lot is just around the corner. Filming completed on Salem’s Lot all the way back in November of 2021, but the film has been in a strange state of limbo ever since. In the intervening years, Warner Bros top brass has seemingly gone back and forth regarding the film’s fate as the studio has repeatedly shifted its strategy regarding theatrical releases.
Originally, the film was set for a streaming-only release on the studio’s MAX platform. Then, as Warner Bros moved away from those plans and began to focus on projects that could be released theatrically, it also began to delete films so that it could claim back their production budgets as tax write-offs. At one point, Salem’s Lot looked like it would meet this unhappy fate. Then it was saved but was heading straight to streaming. Now, in an unlikely turnaround, the film is actually getting a theatrical release – here in the UK at least.
The word is, Stephen King himself saved the film from deletion by publicly endorsing it. If that’s true, King must occupy some rarified air as he seems to be the only public figure able to stay the twitchy trigger finger of serial film-deleter and Warner Bros boss, David Zaslav.
Horror veteran Gary Dauberman has directed the film while Top Gun: Maverick's Lewis Pullman stars.
Pilou Asbæk, who played a memorable turn as the pirate rogue Euron Greyjoy in Game Of Thrones, has landed the plum role in the upcoming film. Asbæk will play Richard Straker, the vampire who serves as the chief antagonist for a large part of the story.
The actor joins Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp and Spencer Treat Clark to round out the ensemble. The story follows ‘author Ben Mears, a man who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot only to find it is slowly being taken over by vampires.’
The film is set to release in UK cinemas on October 11th, a week after our American friends get it straight-to-streaming on Max. Here’s that trailer below.
