2004 Salem’s Lot Mini-Series

Since I just finished reading about Salem’s Lot, and watching the 1978 mini-series, I also gave the 2004 miniseries a whirl.  (181 minutes)

Composer Christopher Gordon's site notes, "Salem's Lot premieres on the TNT cable channel on June 20th and 21st, 2004 to be broadcast throughout the summer and shown worldwide later in the year."

I’m going to tell you now, I liked it.

The less likable stuff:

I’m reading a lot of fans who absolutely hated this film, and probably with good reason.  There’s a lot to hate here!  In particular, the story is so heavily changed at unnecessary points.

When King gave us the unabridged version of The Stand he pointed out that we would not find old characters behaving in new ways.  Their behavior would remain consistent with what we found in the abridgement.  I think that is what fans also expect of movies.  We’re okay with new scenes, or even story changes – so long as characters remain consistent with who they are in the novel.  But in this version, Father Callahan in particular is a very different character.  And, for a movie that wanted to so honor King’s work, it doesn’t make sense to mess up the Callahan character, who is necessary for the Dark Tower.

Another example is the story of Dr. Cody.  He is tricked into an affair, and then extorted.  This is to combine another story from the novel – but it doesn’t work with Cody’s character in the book.

Some of the complaining about this movie is just ridiculous.  One website whined that the movie’s narration is not read by Rob Lowe in the same voice that he acts in the movie.  That’s because. . . he’s narrating!  

Now, for what I did like. . .

1. I liked the references to other King works.

• The music in the background of the bar: Stand By Me.
• Rob Lowe also starred in The Stand.
• Andre Braugher, who plays Matt Burke also played Brent Norton in The Mist.
• Father Calahan is played by James Cromwell, who also played the warden in The Green Mile.
• Background as they search for missing children, “Shut up, Cujo.”

2. This is an all star cast!  Donald Southerland, Rob Lowe both do great.

3.This version does a nice job of telling more of the back story than the original mini-series.  It also doesn’t have that strange 70s tv feel.  The narration quotes large passages from the book as the Lot is described.

4.  I really like the Marsten House!  The inside is delapadated, like a long forsaken building might be expected to be.

5. I like the dark, shadowy Barlow in this.

6. Oh, them Vampires are a nasty brew!  Very nice.  I like the way the vampires leap about and crawl naturally on the ceiling.  A very nice, freaky, touch!  They feel like real animals in human skin.

7. At points, this version is much closer to the novel.  Not only is the narration drawn directly from the book, but the scene in which Barlow confronts the priest is very similiar.  Allowing the vampire to speak is great, and Rutger Hauer (who plays Kurt Barlow) does it so well.  He doesn’t turn into Bella L., or try and be anything other than Mr. Barlow.  He is energetic, condescending and flat out mean.  This is a scary Barlow.

8. It is neat when people get bit.  For all the fear they have of getting gnawed on by a vamp, once it actually happens, the experience appears euphoric.

The review at 80's fear notes:

“The smaller touches often work the best, such as Petrie’s models now including Cenobites instead of the standard Universal monsters or the subtle way the abuse committed by the young mother against her baby is handled. Donald Sutherland is great as Straker, Dan Byrd is good as Mark Petrie, while Rutger Hauer and Andre Braugher give great performances in slightly underwritten roles that keep them offscreen too long. The Marsten house also appears a much more menacing structure, looming over the town, while 90% of the second half gets things right and manage to stay fairly close to the novel (at least until the stupid character change in Callahan, especially stupid given the character’s tales of the events following Salem’s Lot in the same year’s novel Wolves Of The Calla), the fifth of the Dark Towerseries.” (HERE)

The Music

Composer Christopher Gordon has a lot of information about the music in this mini-series(HERE)

Asked if he read the book, Gordon replied: "By the time I came on to the project the film was nearing the end of editing. I haven't read the book and I think it is important that the composer score the film that's in front of him or her. There can be quite a difference in structure, interpretation and tone from the script by the time the director has shaped it and the actors, cinematographer and editor have brought their ideas to it. So the book is even further removed. The composer's inspiration and challenges are what's on the screen."

Gordon's site also notes:

For this lavish production, Christopher has paired with internationally-renowned vocal soloist Lisa Gerrard, whose distinctive work with composer Hans Zimmer on Gladiator (2000) garnered her a Golden Globe. For Salem's Lot, Lisa jointly-contributed to three cues, which are represented on the soundtrack album as "Bloody Pirates, "Converting The Priest", and "Salem's Lot Theme". Lisa also composed "Salem's Lot Aria", with Patrick Cassidy, and "Free in Spirit". 

Recorded between October and December, 2003 at the newly-constructed Trackdown Scoring Stage in Sydney, the score to Salem's Lot was brought alive by the choir Cantillation and the composer's regular session orchestra, Pro Musica Sydney. Gordon's score, whilst constructed around a diatonic key centre, derives a proportion of its material from a series of aleatoric cells and harmonic clusters used to form a structured montage. Thematically, his music is driven by a need to define strength in the face of sheer adversity, accentuating the nature of the evil that has overridden the Marsten House and which now pervades Jerusalem's Lot.