Salem’s Lot director admits adapting the lengthy Stephen King novel was “more challenging” than he expected, leading to several characters being cut

Fans of legendary author Stephen King will know that his novels are no easy feat, and are often thick and packed full of stories. No one knows this better than director of the new Salem’s Lot adaptation Gary Dauberman, who says he found it difficult to fit all of King’s vampire tale into under two hours.

“It was more challenging than I anticipated,” Dauberman tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Terrifier 3 on the cover and hits newsstands on October 2. “And I anticipated it being really challenging! My initial goal was to try and stick to the book as much as I could, but when the first draft started to feel like it was going to be just as long as the book, I knew some changes would have to be made.”

Unlike past Salem’s Lot adaptations, which chose to retell the story in a miniseries format, Dauberman’s take doesn’t have the luxury of having hours and hours to explore the 1975 novel. Salem’s Lot was first adapted just years after the book was released with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Tobe Hooper 1979 version, and then again in 2004 starring Rob Lowe. 

So to rectify the issue, Dauberman chose to axe a few side characters in order to keep within the confines of a horror movie and “focus on the core group of Ben, Mark, Susan, Dr Cody, Matt, and Father Callahan,” adds the director. But this isn’t Dauberman’s first rodeo with King adaptations as the filmmaker previously worked on the 2017 movie It and It: Chapter Two. And what Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot lacks in characters, it makes up for in multiple King Easter eggs and homages throughout the movie. 

Starring Top Gun Marverick’s Lewis Pullam as author Ben Mears, the movie follows the writer’s return to his hometown in search of inspiration for his new book. But his homecoming soon turns sour when he comes to realize that the place he had grown up in is now crawling with blood-sucking vampires. The film also stars Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, John Benjamin Hickey, Bill Camp, Jordan Preston Carter, Nicholas Crovetti, William Sadler, and Spencer Treat Clark.

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Salem’s Lot releases on October 3 on Max in the US, and on October 11 in theaters in the UK. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Terrifier 3 on the cover and will be available from Wednesday, October 2. 

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