{"id":33274,"date":"2026-04-01T22:53:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T05:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=33274"},"modified":"2026-04-01T22:53:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T05:53:57","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-salems-lot-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=33274","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4K Ultra HD Review: SALEM\u2019S LOT (1979)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 2-disc 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow Video is now available for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the history of vampire movie or television adaptations, there are several classics. Naturally, the original Dracula<\/em> (1931) is iconic, and Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s 1992 edition is another strong entry that also pays homage to vampire cinema in the process. Among those based on other properties, I would consider the Salem\u2019s Lot<\/em> miniseries near the top of the list. Based on the Stephen King bestseller, directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre<\/em>) and featuring a wonderful cast, this modern- day bloodsucker tale has made a lasting impression with anyone who saw it, whether on the TV in North America or at the movie theater in other parts of the world (via a pared-down theatrical cut).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrow Video has released an amazing \u201cLimited Edition” 2-disc 4K Ultra HD that presents both the full miniseries and shorter international film cut with a much cleaner and clearer image, as well as hours of bonus materials that go not only into the background of the production, but also its themes, uniqueness and lasting effect on the genre. Anyone who appreciates vampire movies or even horror in general should consider this a must-own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tale follows author Ben Mears (Davd Soul) who returns to his hometown in Maine to write about an old property in the town that has haunted him since childhood. Known as the Marsden House, terrible acts have been committed there, and the writer plans to tell a story about the location, examining whether the house itself may be evil and draw those kinds of people to it. The town itself is picturesque and the story then introduces viewers to its residents. However, it seems that behind closed doors, there\u2019s plenty of less-than-pleasant acts occurring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mears does make a connection with local Susan Norton (Bonnie Bedelia), and also makes inquiries about the property with a real estate agent (Fred Willard). He learns that the house has just been purchased by the mysterious Kurt Barlow. His business partner, antiques dealer Richard Straker (James Mason) is setting up for the owner\u2019s arrival. It isn\u2019t long before townspeople literally start dying and disappearing, leaving Mears to figure out what is responsible. Along the way, he comes into contact with young Mark Petrie (Lance Kenwin), a monster movie enthusiast who begins to realize that Barlow may be a vampire and Straker his human servant.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Personally, I vastly prefer the full miniseries version of the movie. It features a prologue in Guatemala that introduces two of the surviving characters, before moving back in time to show how they met up. This is part of the original King book and offers an extra sting at the tail of the story. As noted, the characters are all very well drawn, with Mears displaying a fear and morbid fascination with the house he\u2019s writing about. The townspeople and their troubles are all interesting, and the presentation offers several surprises as to what occurs to them. The score is eerie, the production design phenomenal for a TV movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And best yet, it\u2019s tense and scary. Horrific things occur (more than one child perishes and\/or are turned) and it\u2019s a tense watch from opening to close. Soul is wonderful, as are co-stars Bedelia, while Mason and the Barlow vampire make lasting impressions. There are iconic scenes in the film brilliantly directed by Hooper, including a floating vampire child, as well as the chilling first confrontation with Barlow. And the climax within the Marsden House makes indelible impressions. The dank, rotting interiors are reminiscent of the Sawyer house from Hopper\u2019s Chain Saw film. If that wasn\u2019t enough, there\u2019s great subtext about the nature of evil, how small towns aren\u2019t so perfect (the police and church are ineffective in guiding and protecting their people), and that it is easy for seemingly normal places to go off the rails and succumb to evil. In summation, it\u2019s hard to imagine anyone doing any better with this property. It is one of, if not the<\/em> best vampire productions of its era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For this release, both the TV miniseries and the international theatrical cut are presented in the original 1:37:1 aspect ratio. The original 35mm camera negative and the 35mm interpositive of the shorter edition has been scanned in 4K and are presented in Dolby Vision. The results are excellent. I will admit that the first shot of Mears driving into the town in the miniseries version made me very nervous, as it looked extremely grainy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this is the result of old-fashioned, optical printing effect, a dissolve and titles all within a shot, which requires extra downgrades of the filmic source material to complete. There\u2019s nothing anyone can do about that, and from about a minute or two later, the rest of the movie looks excellent. Just be patient and you\u2019ll soon be wowed. There\u2019s a natural grain, but nothing distracting and some shots are remarkably clean. Colors are deeper and detail is greater (which looks particularly impressive during Marsden House interiors). Even the floating vampire children attack scenes look incredible and hold up perfectly. This unique effect, which involved the scene being played in reverse with the child and smoke spinning around them are flawless and chilling to behold. This is a great transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And no expense has been spared with the bonus material. The miniseries disc can be played in two parts or as a complete, extended movie. It also provides a couple of commentary tracks, as well as bumpers that would have appeared during commercial breaks and one death in the movie as it appeared during the first broadcast (footage that is slightly more graphic was reinserted during subsequent airing and on the full miniseries version).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m always pleased when an archival filmmaker track appears, because the director often gives the most accurate and clear impressions of what occurred during the production. The late, great Tobe Hooper talks about the project, noting that he was working on a Jim Jones biopic that fell through before getting a call about the series. He describes his techniques for creating a tense and anxious feeling on screen, working with the cast and more. This is a three-hour track and there are some breaks, but there\u2019s plenty of great information contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film historian track is also included, providing more technical information about the cast and crew, as well as the critic\u2019s own personal analysis of the miniseries and its themes. It\u2019s another enjoyable and enlightening track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other extras include a couple of bumpers, with the title card appearing and a voice-over reminding audiences of what they\u2019re watching and that the show will be right back. They are a lot of fun to see. And the antler death simply omits a shot and extends another featuring a character\u2019s eyes rolling.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international cut 4K disc presents a much shorter version (about 70 minutes is cut). It doesn\u2019t provide the kind of detail and character development of the miniseries and jumps around considerably in order to set the situation up in a much briefer time, but it is interesting and well put-together. This cut likely did serve audiences across the pond perfectly well. And curiously enough, for a while the international cut was also the easiest edition to find in North America. Besides the character omissions, one sequence involving a shotgun is very slightly altered, with a character forcing a gun barrel into another person\u2019s mouth, rather than a number of inches away from their face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This disc is also full of bonuses. There is a commentary from film expert Chris Alexander, who details his love of the film and how he discovered it. As a movie magazine editor-in-chief and convention organizer, he also goes into a few experiences that he has had with cast members. It\u2019s a fun listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a fascinating Interview with Stephen King biographer Douglas E. Winter, who describes how he met King and analyses the early part of his career. He notes the cleverness and originality of the source material, which used the 1956 novel Payton Place<\/em> as a model story and presented a whole town of individuals with dark secrets, only to be further fragmented by the arrival of a vampire. He also describes having visited the author and having watched him write, describing King as a conductor of sorts tapping at the keys in a unique manner. He also notes that many of the stories are about authors and that King often takes inspiration from bits and pieces, both positive and negative, of his own personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an interesting appreciation of King by Grady Hendrix, who goes over some of the same bits and adds his own take on the author\u2019s early books and work. He adds more analysis and notes some of the fresh elements King added to the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mick Garris, who has made his own set of miniseries based on King\u2019s novels and knew Hooper personally, is happy to explain how easy it is to work with the author, who understands that filmmakers do need to make changes to books in order to make them work as movies and television programs. He also goes into Hooper\u2019s style and how effectively he created a memorable mood and atmosphere that has stood the test of time. He also notes that a lot of King’s and Hooper\u2019s works are inspired by tumultuous events in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and disillusionment with the Vietnam war, the US government and religion that is expressed in their work.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an enjoyable tour of filming locations then and now. The film was shot in small town Ferndale, California how little the town has changed, with many locations looking remarkably similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, there is a n enjoyable video essay from critic Heather Wixson about the film\u2019s young horror movie enthusiast Mark Petrie, noting this tale is the first to feature one of the protagonists as a movie fan who uses his knowledge of the supernatural film to help take on the villains.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And another interview contains an appreciation of the movie by Joe Lipsett and Trace Thurman that goes over the elements of the film that made an impression on them, as well as their take on some of the themes and plot elements.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a wealth of material, and a trailer for the film is also included, as well as previews for A Return to Salem\u2019s Lot<\/em> and the 2024 adaptation of the novel. An image gallery is also featured on this disc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Everything comes in impressive packaging that contains a booklet with writing on the miniseries and archival materials, as well as a double-sided fold-out poster with art from the sleeve. A \u201cSalem\u2019s Lot\u201d town-signage sticker is also included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I adore Salem\u2019s Lot<\/em> and it seems that a great many other horror enthusiasts feel the same way. It\u2019s one of the best genre miniseries ever made and an iconic vampire story. This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD release presents much improved picture quality, as well as a treasure trove of bonus materials. This set is an easy recommendation and all readers should seek it out!
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This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 2-disc 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow Video is now available for purchase. In the history of vampire movie or television adaptations, there are several classics. Naturally, the original Dracula (1931) is iconic, and Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s 1992 edition is another strong entry that also pays homage to vampire cinema in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[110,2933,2972,3282,3295,3306,5341,7897,10243,12056,14020,17534,17535,17536,19051,22966,23380,23665,23989],"class_list":["post-33274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-110","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past1-4k-review","tag-bonnie-bedelia","tag-book-adaptation","tag-book-to-film-adaptation","tag-david-soul","tag-fred-willard","tag-james-mason","tag-lance-kenwin","tag-miniseries","tag-salems-lot-2","tag-salems-lot-4k-review","tag-salems-lot-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-stephen-king","tag-tobe-hooper","tag-tv-miniseries","tag-vampire","tag-warner-bros"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}