Sunday, October 16, 2011

Night 16 of "The Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween"

Welcome to night 16 of "Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween". Tonight we have a review of the next movie on our Halloween Movie List. Make sure to stop by our GIANT Giveaway and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 17 different shops! But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Tonight's Featured Item - Vampire Smile Necklace.

Vampire Smile Neckace $16

Purchase this item from Laughing Vixen Lounge during October and get 10% off. Use code OCTOBER10
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Night 16 - Salem's Lot


Tagline - The ultimate in terror!
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Directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist) and released on November 17, 1979 by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). Ben (David Soul) returns to his hometown to write his latest novel but quickly becomes obsessed with the old creepy house up on the hill. Oddly enough, strange things have started to happen since the house has acquired new owners. Ben must find out just what is happening in Salem's Lot.
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This was a mini series for television based on a short story by Stephen King. It stares David Soul from "Starsky and Hutch" fame, for those of use old enough to remember! The Vampire in this one is in true Nosferatu fashion. Bald head, long fingers and pointy front teeth. Ick! The movie is not real scary or gory, as it was made for long ago TV, but I always find it an interesting watch.
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Some trivia about the movie...
1. Director George A. Romero was originally approached to direct a feature film version, but after the announcements of John Badham's Dracula and Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, Warner Bros. decided to turn Salem's Lot into a TV mini-series. Romero dropped out, feeling he wouldn't be able to make the film the way he wanted to with the restrictions of network television.
2. The exterior for the Marsten House, the film's icon, was actually a full-scale facade built upon a smaller preexisting hill-top house. In total the facade cost the production an estimated $100,000 dollars to build.
3. Some of the foreign titles chosen for the films theatrical release overseas included 'Blood Thirst','Phantasma II', and 'Le Notti di Salem'.
4. After the mini-series aired on CBS with excellent ratings there was talk of continuing it as a regular television series for a while. The idea of making Salem's Lot a TV show never materialized though.
5. This was the first television mini-series (and the second film) to be based on the writings of author Stephen King.
6. The title of the novel 'Salem's Lot includes an apostrophe in front of the word Salem because the title is suppose to be short for "Jerusalem's Lot"; the actual name of the town where the story is set. To avoid confusion for the mini-series adaptation though the town is mostly referred to as "Salem's Lot" and the first apostrophe was dropped from the film's title.
7. Though 'Salem's Lot' was only Stephen King's second published novel, like many of his subsequent novels, it has connections to his 'Dark Tower' series. In this case, the character of Father Donald Callaghan appears in the later books of the series.
8. When it was released in Spain they called it "Phantasma II", being a supposed sequel to Phantasm. But the two movies have nothing in common.
9. Stephen King was inspired to write the book when he had his English class read 'Dracula', and became curious about what would happen if vampires came to America, specifically in a small town.

10 comments:

  1. I loved this when it first came out. I watched it at my best friend's creepy, isolated old house and right at a climactic moment (the little brother scratching on the window), our electricity went out... did I mention it was storming outside? This was one of my all time favorite horror movie moments.

    Dixienites@ gmail.com

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  2. this is one i've not seen. for some reason i just lumped this in with older horror, as opposed to vampire/monster!

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  3. I think they made a tv remake of this in the last couple of years that I saw. Not a big fan of King's books/stories made into movies/tv shows.

    acm05atjuno.com

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  4. This one is a blast from my past. Used to be in love with David Soul...lol. I also like the Nosferatu type vamps.... I think they would kick any sparkling vampires ass!

    The book was waaay better as is the case with all Stephen King but enjoyed it none the less!

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  5. I watched the movie, but definitely prefer the book! :)

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  6. Definitely putting this one on the list. Want to read the book as well.

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  7. I didn't like it -but then again, I don't like the book so much, either...

    DESPINA
    deb_oro@yahoo.gr

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  8. I liked this mini series and wouldn't mind watching it again in the future! I agree Salem's Lot is nothing like Phantasm

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  9. Cute series, if it's the right world for the genre))
    redalepou@yahoo.com

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  10. I love about 95% of all movies I watch and this falls under the 5% I didn't like.

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