Ben, a writer, has returned to Jerusalem's Lot, after 25 years away. He becomes friends with teacher Matt and has a romance with Susan. An Austrian immigrant Kurt Barlow is in town to open a store, he is also buying the sinister, abandoned Marsten House, on which Ben is writing a book. Barlow is never seen but his partner Richard Straker is seen about town. At the same time as the two businessmen arrive in town, Ralphie, a young boy disappears and his younger brother Danny dies and then transforms into a vampire. He goes on to infect a whole coven of little boys and much of the town within a matter of weeks. A group of people - including Ben, Susan, Matt, his doctor Jimmy, the young Mark and the town priest - join together to fight the vampires. They have an absolutely terrible time of it - most of them expiring or else vampirised thanks to Kurt Barlow. Ben and Mark survive but they must leave Salem's Lot to the vampires and relocate elsewhere. Stephen King's second published novel and the one he prefers as his best work, Salem's Lot liberally doses out the chills throughout the text. Part of the reason why the book is so scary is the time and energy King puts into the characterisation of his protagonists and the description of small town life in America. The vampires aren't sexy Buffy like vampires, they are mean and nasty, and would sink their fangs into your neck before you had even finished murmuring pleasantries to them. One of the best modern vampire stories, Salem's Lot has scares and creepiness galore to dish out to the reader - it is very much a 1970s book, but it is interesting to go back in time and get scared witless by 1970s vampires. These are real vampires, not the sexy vampires of the contemporary age. Therefore, you will want to have a crucifix by you and a whole allotment of garlic bulbs on hand while you are reading it... You never know...
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
Ben, a writer, has returned to Jerusalem's Lot, after 25 years away. He becomes friends with teacher Matt and has a romance with Susan. An Austrian immigrant Kurt Barlow is in town to open a store, he is also buying the sinister, abandoned Marsten House, on which Ben is writing a book. Barlow is never seen but his partner Richard Straker is seen about town. At the same time as the two businessmen arrive in town, Ralphie, a young boy disappears and his younger brother Danny dies and then transforms into a vampire. He goes on to infect a whole coven of little boys and much of the town within a matter of weeks. A group of people - including Ben, Susan, Matt, his doctor Jimmy, the young Mark and the town priest - join together to fight the vampires. They have an absolutely terrible time of it - most of them expiring or else vampirised thanks to Kurt Barlow. Ben and Mark survive but they must leave Salem's Lot to the vampires and relocate elsewhere. Stephen King's second published novel and the one he prefers as his best work, Salem's Lot liberally doses out the chills throughout the text. Part of the reason why the book is so scary is the time and energy King puts into the characterisation of his protagonists and the description of small town life in America. The vampires aren't sexy Buffy like vampires, they are mean and nasty, and would sink their fangs into your neck before you had even finished murmuring pleasantries to them. One of the best modern vampire stories, Salem's Lot has scares and creepiness galore to dish out to the reader - it is very much a 1970s book, but it is interesting to go back in time and get scared witless by 1970s vampires. These are real vampires, not the sexy vampires of the contemporary age. Therefore, you will want to have a crucifix by you and a whole allotment of garlic bulbs on hand while you are reading it... You never know...