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Gary Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot—a movie so delayed even source-material author Stephen King became frustrated with the situation—is finally arriving soon, and it looks like it’ll be worth the wait. The vampire tale hits Max in October, which is a better fate than certain other recent Warner Bros. titles, but if Dauberman had his druthers, it would get a release even more befitting its mid-1970s aesthetic: at the drive-in.
In a new Vanity Fair profile, the horror veteran (Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, It, It Chapter Two, the upcoming Until Dawn adaptation) finally gets to talk about Salem’s Lot, which stars Lewis Pullman (Outer Range) as Ben Mears, the author whose hometown visit turns into a monster mash thanks to new arrivals Richard Straker (Game of Thrones‘ Pilou Asbæk) and the very mysterious Kurt Barlow. That drive-in dream has everything to do with the movie’s retro feel, which stays true to King’s original 1970s setting—a quality Dauberman specifically prioritized from the start.
“Most of my stuff is set in the ’70s,” he told Vanity Fair. “I love the music. I do love the costumes. I just love the vibe of it.” And it goes beyond just the look of the film, he further explained; it’s also about the tone, which aims to capture the wild spirit of 1970s grindhouse movies. A poster for 1974 voodoo zombie revenge flick Sugar Hill was specifically worked into the production design for this reason.
“You could do a very dry version of this movie, but that’s just not my personality,” he told the magazine. “It’s trying to ride that wave’s ups and downs. You’re having fun with it, and then you can have a scare, and then you’re having fun again. Hopefully it feels like a complete ride at the end.”
The rest of the cast includes Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, and John Benjamin Hickey. Salem’s Lot was previously adapted into a 1979 TV miniseries by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Poltergeist), starring David Soul and James Mason—and as another TV miniseries in 2004 by Mikael Salomon, starring Rob Lowe, Donald Sutherland, and Rutger Hauer.
Check out Vanity Fair for tons more images, including glimpses at a vampire and the Marsten place (one of King’s most revered creepy-old-house creations)—as well as a look at Asbæk’s flamboyantly costumed familiar. Salem’s Lot streams on Max in October.
‘Salem’s Lot,’ based on the 1975 novel, the film follows author Ben Mears who returns to his small town in search of inspiration for his next book—and instead finds his fellow residents are being picked off one-by-one.
Take an early look at the film: https://t.co/Gf5BMW7eLQ pic.twitter.com/Ny8aq8irac
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 20, 2024
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