A true coniseur of film would absolutely take time out to watch the original version of a remake. A true coniseur would also make sure they are not watching the directors cut that’s 3hrs long! Interestingly enough, I didn’t even know I was untill the first 5 mins of the movie. It was obvious I was looking at filler. A lot of scenes I would have cut out; were to long or wasn’t necessary. Either way, I stayed for the long haul.

I pulled a double feature and watched BOTH movies in the same day! I remember seeing the movie really young and it scared me. I didn’t remember specifics, I just remember the movie title and what I felt. It wasn’t the same some 20+ years later but theres still an appreciation for classic makeup artistry. I was instantly pleased at the 2024 Salem’s Lot began to play. It was like pouring water on a dry sponge and rejuvenating it.

Salems Lot was originally written by Stephen King and like most king books, it became a movie. A young man returns to Salem’s Lot, a small town in Maine that’s originally called Jersulems lot. He is drawn back for inspiration to write a new book. It doesn’t take long to realize something it wrong in the quiet town. Residents begin disappearing and are found dead and the dead doesn’t stay dead for long. Only a small circle of people are in agreeance in whats happening. This out of towner who has opened a store and lives in the house on the hill gives all the vibes of vampires. Before you know it, the whole town is apart of the army of vamps and the head vamp Barlow must be stopped before he moves on to other towns and continues to grow.

The 2024 movie is almost identical to the 1976 version. Scenes, dialogue, characters, story line and sequence are basically a mirror copy of the original. After seeing an hour and a half of filler, the 2024 version was a nice welcome because I was seeing what I needed to see and nothing more. Only a few differences between the two. They combined the reality assistant and the love interest from the 1976 version, into 1 character in the 2024 version, as well as not have her have a romantic relationship with her boss. I thought this was good because the reality woman played no real role the storyline. This wasn’t a change but needs to be acknowledged, the scene with the glick brothers are walking in the woods…wow. Its hard for me to describe it, just go watch and there will be no doubt of the scene I am talking about. The only other change, which was a major one, is the ending. The 1976 ending takes place in the house and is drawn out, predictable and anti climactic. The 2024 movie ending takes place outside between day and night but stayed true in the sence of it being anti climactic on the actual killing of Barlow, the lead up was a good stepp above the original.

As far as remakes go, I feel like Salem’s Lot is one movie to be made like the original and not a reimagining. It was executed well in a more up to date way and having its own spin but still keeping to the script as far as the ending is concerned. Its an entertaining movie but not one to run back after first watch.