Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

Personally, I enjoy both films. I find Tobe's version more frigntening and reminiscent of my youth while Mikael's rendition is closer to King's original work. This story is definitely one of the great works of vampire film and literature in the postmodern era. My vote goes to Tobe!

I like Tobe's classic Salem's Lot! But never seen Mikael's Salem's Lot... is that remake or what?


BTW, Have you ever seen RETURN TO SALEM'S LOT? Is it any good or what? Well, never seen it either.

It was a 2004 TNT remake/mini-series with Rob Lowe as Ben Mears, Rutger Hauer as Barlow, and Donald Sutherland as Straker. I think Hauer and Sutherland both did a great job and brought new life to their respective characters, but Lowe sucked as the famous protagonist; David Soul did much better in 1979. What I liked about this version is that it gave a new and modern interpretation of the story. In some ways, it was closer to the novel while in other ways it departed from the original work. Overall, I give it a 5 out of 10; fun movie, but not scary like Tobe's 1979 version. If you enjoy the story, I would suggest viewing it at least once. I watched it on TV when it first aired, and found a DVD copy on Ebay.

Return to Salem's Lot is full of camp and just sucks!

I was excited when I heard Rutger Hauer was involved, but lost interest when I learned he was Barlow. I'm going to buy the DVD eventually and watch it, but would be stunned if would win me over the original.

As your avatar illustrates, the 1979 Barlow was freakin' scary as all get out.

Rutger Hauer's Kurt Barlow was much closer to King's version of the character. In this film, he speaks and is very crafty like in the novel, but not as frightening as Reggie Nalder's nosferatu of 1979. Now, I must say, however, that I found Donald Sutherland's Richard Straker in this film to be much scarier than James Mason's. Overall, not nearly as scary or entertaining, but worth a watch

I did not like the modern version, It simply wasn't all that scary. The original had far more atmosphere and style not to mention a much scarier vampire.

I agree. The new film was a little closer to the novel, but the older version was much scarier. I didn't find this new movie scary at all; it was almost funny at times. I did, however, like the satanic link between Hubie Marsten and Barlow.