In the day and age of studio tax write-offs, “Salem’s Lot” was lucky to see the light of day at all. Filmed five years ago, and sat on by Warner Brothers for a couple of years, the film adaptation of Stephen King’s1978 novel finally released on Max just in time for Halloween. 

Fans of the book will tune in to see if it is a faithful adaptation, but as with most movies based on the written word, adaptation can prove to be tough. The film suffers from pacing and editing issues galore. The film’s director, Gary Dauberman, claims he had to cut several side characters and B stories from his original script, with his first cut clocking in at three hours long.

The film was pushed back seven months because of COVID, and was nearly cast into the same tax-redemption vault as “Batgirl” and “Coyote vs. Acme,” the Wile E. Coyote movie, but Stephen King’s persistence and glowing reviews kept the film alive.

Dauberman, who has written several horror movies, including the 2017 remake of “It,” had only previously directed the film “Annabelle Comes Home.” The Annabelle movies are not my jam. I found them boring, cliche, and full of tropes. Luckily for Dauberman, “Salem’s Lot” is supposed to have tropes and cliches, as this story is King’s take on Dracula in small-town America.

The film starts and progresses like “Nosferatu” on green screen. Shot in Boston, the film makes great use of the sprawling and dense woods but in several shots the background is clearly digital. My favorite shot in the film follows two brothers traipsing through the woods at sunset, which always ends well. Dauberman makes great use of the lighting and lets you watch the silhouettes of these two doomed children against a literal red, white, and blue backdrop.

Another great shot, which is used in the trailer, finds our hero realizing he is surrounded by vampires in the middle of the town, their glowing yellow eyes the only thing visible in the darkness. A nearby church is his only chance.

The film stars Lewis Pullman (son of Bill Pullman) as Ben Mears, Jordan Preston Carter as Mark Petrie, Mackenzie Leigh as Susan Norton, and Alfre Woodard as Dr Cody. Though it wasn’t meant for streaming initially, this film definitely comes off as “made for tv.” The dialogue is delivered with all of the excitement and urgency of an algebra lecture and is mostly used to propel the story forward. I prefer the “show, don’t tell” method in all art, but Dauberman prefers the “tell them, tell them, and tell them again” method. 

Broadway icons Alfre Woodard and Bill Camp, as well as HBO veteran Pilou Asbaek (Euron Greyjoy from “Game of Thrones”) give great performances. Woodard plays the town physician Dr. Camp a teacher, and Asbaek a version of Renfield named Straker. For as much flack as this movie is getting for poor acting performances, these three really shine. Woodard especially finds every opportunity to chew the scenery and deliver an outstanding performance in an otherwise bland film.