'Salem's Lot is a 2024 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Gary Dauberman, based on the 1975 novel by Stephen King.

The film stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, John Benjamin Hickey, Bill Camp, Jordan Preston Carter, Nicholas Crovetti, Spencer Treat Clark, William Sadler, and Pilou Asbæk.

The plot centers on a writer who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot in search of inspiration, only to discover the presence of a vampire.

He befriends and starts a romantic relationship with Susan Norton, a local who has an overbearing mother and dreams of leaving town.

A strange European man called Straker opens an antique store in town and moves into the long-abandoned Marsten House which has a history of murders.

After discovering that Mike's body has also vanished, Cody confronts Matt and he tells her, Ben, and Susan about the vampires and how to defeat them.

Ben gives chase and is attacked by the turned town residents, before returning to the church to seek shelter with Cody.

He is found by Ben and Dr. Cody and the group realize the vampires are sheltering at the local drive-in movie theatre, using the cars as coffins.

Mark runs over Susan's mother and destroys the theatre screen, exposing the vampires to sunlight and killing them all.

[11] In an interview, Dauberman was asked if he would apply the same writing approach he utilized for It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), adaptations of King's novel It, to which he replied "I like to be as true to the story as I possibly can until it gets a little too unwieldy for a movie.

[20] According to Dauberman, the film was shortened from a duration of almost three hours, which would have included, among other things, the opening scene set in the Marsten House.

[22] There was growing concern that the project would be scrapped, despite being completely filmed and deep into post-production, similar to Batgirl, Scoob!

[24] In February 2024, King questioned why there were still no confirmed release plans for the film, stating that he is "not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it's embarrassing, or anything.

[30] Releasing Salem's Lot in October, ahead of Nosferatu in December, and on Max instead of theaters, helped avoid competition between the two films, preventing a potential split in ticket sales and viewership.

The website's consensus reads: "An old-fashioned spookfest, this 'Salem's Lot won't be the definitive adaptation of Stephen King's famed vampire tale but it makes for a solid reintroduction to a new generation of audiences.

[36] Josh Korngut of Dread Central awarded the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Despite its occasional scares and striking style, this adaptation lacks any of the terror or emotional depth of its Stephen King source material.

"[37] Bloody Disgusting's Meagan Navarro also gave the film 2/5 stars, noting, "it's an adaptation that feels heavily tampered with, gutting all story and character development solely in favor of vampire scares.