“The elusive Mr. Barlow.” That’s how characters in Stephen King‘s 1975 novel ‘Salem’s Lot describe the proprietor of the new antique store opened in the small Maine town Jerusalem’s Lot, shortened to ‘Salem’s Lot or even the Lot by locals. Although the co-owner Richard Starker makes regular, and memorable, appearances in the shop with smarmy […]
The post Salem’s Lot Adaptations Keep Getting Stephen King’s Vampire Wrong appeared first on Den of Geek.
“The elusive Mr. Barlow.” That’s how characters in Stephen King‘s 1975 novel ‘Salem’s Lot describe the proprietor of the new antique store opened in the small Maine town Jerusalem’s Lot, shortened to ‘Salem’s Lot or even the Lot by locals. Although the co-owner Richard Starker makes regular, and memorable, appearances in the shop with smarmy realtor Larry Crockett, and outside the creepy Marston house where the two newcomers supposedly live, Barlow remains absent.
Even when Barlow finally introduces himself in the novel, he remains obscure. “The shadow had a manlike form, but there was something…something…” observes the narrator, focalizing through the perspective of repairman Corey Bryant. “The form shifted and came from the shadows. In the faint light, Corey saw a middle-aged man with a black mustache and deep, bright eyes.”
Although Corey observes that Barlow is a foreigner, whose “cheekbones were high and Slavic, his forehead pale and bony, his dark hair swept straight back,” Barlow is unmistakably a man, not a beast. He delivers an erudite speech about the vitality of America, the lack of want or hunger that Americans enjoy, before setting his teeth into Corey’s neck.
That’s because, of course, Barlow is a vampire, one who has come to feast on the remains of ‘Salem’s Lot, which has already started to die. The idea of a real vampire appearing in the present drives the novel ‘Salem’s Lot. And yet, it’s an aspect missed by most adaptations, including the new movie version by Gary Dauberman.
A Thoroughly Unmodern Monster
The confrontation between Corey and Barlow underscores the appeal of King’s novel. Corey is a modern American man, a citizen of a small-town where everyone knows everyone else’s business, including the fact that he’s sleeping with a married woman, and of a country not even 200 years old yet. Barlow is the Old World,
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