The inevitability of even more Stephen King adaptations, in the wake of It’s record-breaking success back in 2017, has rarely felt associated with all that much necessity. There have been about 13 on the big and small screens in the years since, mostly a mix of sub-par second-go reworks of classics (Firestarter, Pet Sematary, The Stand) and an unnecessary stream of little-known short stories (The Boogeyman, Mr Harrigan’s Phone, Chapelwaite), with only the odd bright spot in-between (Doctor Sleep, The Outsider).
The more we’ve seen of him, especially in his lesser works, the more we’ve been made keenly aware of his recurrent themes and tropes. They’re front and centre in a new take on his 1975 novel Salem’s Lot, the third adaptation after two miniseries attempts. It was supposed to be the first big-screen transfer but the film has had a rather cursed journey, announced in 2019, shot in 2021, moved off a 2022 release date, moved again from a 2023 slot and then finally downgraded to a streaming premiere in the US (it will hit cinemas in the UK the week after). It’s not quite the ungainly disaster that timeline would suggest but it’s also not really distinctive enough to warrant much fanfare, the strategy to offload it (especially during a difficult year for big-screen horror) making perfect sense.
