Directed by Tobe Hooper and starring David Soul and James Mason, the plot concerns a writer who returns to his hometown and discovers that its citizens are turning into vampires.

Producer Richard Kobritz decided that, due to the novel's length, Salem's Lot would work better as a television miniseries than as a feature film.

He and screenwriter Paul Monash followed the general outline of King's novel but changed some elements, including turning the head vampire Kurt Barlow from a cultured human-looking villain into a speechless demonic-looking monster.

At a church in Guatemala, a man and a boy, Ben Mears and Mark Petrie, are filling small bottles with holy water.

Two years earlier, Mears, a successful author, returns after a long absence to his small hometown of Salem's Lot, Maine.

Attempting to rent it, Mears finds that it has already been purchased by another new arrival in town, the mysterious Richard Straker, who is in the process of opening an antique shop with his oft-mentioned but never present business partner, Kurt Barlow.

Instead, Mears moves into a boarding house in town run by Eva Miller and develops a romantic relationship with a local woman, Susan Norton.

After a large crate is delivered to the Marsten House one night, townspeople begin to disappear or die under strange circumstances.

After his funeral, the undead Danny infects a gravedigger, Mike Ryerson, and attempts to prey on one of his schoolfriends, Mark Petrie.

Seeking revenge for his parents' deaths, Mark breaks into the Marsten House, and a concerned Susan follows him inside; both are soon captured by Straker.

Fleeing the other vampires in the house (the infected townsfolk), the two set fire to the Marsten property as they leave, though Susan is nowhere to be found.

After Warner Bros. acquired the rights to 'Salem's Lot, the studio sought to turn the 400+page novel by Stephen King into a feature film, while still remaining faithful to the source material.

Producer Stirling Silliphant, screenwriter Robert Getchell, and writer/director Larry Cohen all contributed screenplays but none proved satisfactory.

Monash was familiar with writing about small towns, and he previously produced the film adaptation of King's novel Carrie and had worked on the television series Peyton Place.

"[1] Producer Richard Kobritz, who took a strong creative interest in his films, added several changes to Monash's script, including turning the head vampire Kurt Barlow from a cultured human-looking villain into a speechless demonic-looking monster.

Kobritz explained: We went back to the old German Nosferatu concept where he is the essence of evil, and not anything romantic or smarmy, or, you know, the rouge-cheeked, widow-peaked Dracula.

"[3] The miniseries also features Elisha Cook Jr. as Weasel Philips and Marie Windsor as Eva Miller, two characters in a relationship.

According to Tobe Hooper, the makeup on actor Reggie Nalder would constantly fall off, as well as the fake nails and dentures, and the contact lenses would go sideways.

[8] Broadcast reviews for Salem's Lot were largely positive, with critics praising the miniseries's atmosphere, cinematography, Hooper's direction, and scares.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Director Tobe Hooper and a devilishly charismatic James Mason elevate this television adaptation of the Stephen King novel, injecting the vampiric tradition with fresh blood and lingering scares.

[17][7] Salem's Lot has been cited as one of the primary influences for Joss Whedon's hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Like Salem's Lot, Midnight Mass centers around a small town where a former local returns after an extended period of time.

The arrival of a strange new resident (in King's story, Straker, in Flanagan's series the substitute priest), and the revelation of the town being infected by vampires.

In 2004, TNT premiered a new version of Salem's Lot starring Rob Lowe, which received a Primetime Emmy nomination for its music.

[22] On April 23, 2019, New Line Cinema announced that a theatrical film based on the novel would be made, with Gary Dauberman and James Wan producing.