Description

Director George Romero was originally approached to direct a feature film version, but after the announcements of John Badham's Dracula (1979) and Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979), 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, and Tobe Hooper took over.

The acting is acceptable, but in some scenes, the real horror of the situation fails to be adequately shown by Ben Mears (David Soul) and Mark Petrie (Lance Kerwin). James Mason does a fair job of portraying the evil Straker, while Bonnie Bedelia dies an excellent job of portraying Susan Norton.

Broadcast on network TV as Blood Thirst in the United States at 200 minutes; later cut to 150 minutes. An alternate 112 minutes cable-TV cut features stronger violence and was released theatrically in Europe and is available on video in the USA.

Released

1979