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‘Salem’s Lot’ Remake May Be Headed for Streaming Instead of Theatrical Release

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Salem's Lot Remake 2022

One of the biggest questions this year in terms of horror releases remains: Where’s the Salem’s Lot remake? According to Variety, the Gary Dauberman-directed Stephen King adaptation may be heading to Max, the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming platform.

Originally set for theatrical release on September 9, 2022, the new Stephen King adaptation was recently bumped to April 21, 2023, before getting ejected from the theatrical slate altogether. As of now, Salem’s Lot still doesn’t have a release date.

While a Warner Bros. spokesperson told Variety, “No decision has been made about the film’s future distribution plans,” the outlet cites that “the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike has created a growing need for Max content.” That makes Salem’s Lot a prime candidate, considering how long the adaptation has been shelved.

Perhaps, with vocal support from fans, Salem’s Lot may yet head to theaters as Evil Dead Rise did earlier this year. Evil Dead Rise was slated for streaming release on Max (formerly HBO Max) until fans and the franchise’s creators rallied.

Salem’s Lot 2023 is set “circa 1975 (when King’s book was first published).”

In Salem’s Lot 2023, “Haunted by an incident from his childhood, author Ben Mears returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover the town is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire and his loyal servant.”

The cast includes Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp, John Benjamin Hickey, Nicholas Crovetti, Jordan Preston Carter, William Sadler, Spencer Treat Clark, Cade Woodward, Debra Christofferson, and Pilou Asbaek.

Dauberman’s creative team includes director of photography Michael Burgess (Annabelle Comes Home, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It), production designer Marc Fisichella (Ma, The Maze Runner), editor Luke Ciarrocchi (Glass, Split), composers Nathan Barr (The House with a Clock in Its Walls, The Great) and Lisbeth Scott (American Son, Tumble Leaf), costume designer Virginia Johnson (The New Mutants, Mile 22), and first assistant director Jeffrey “JP” Wetzel (Malignant, Annabelle Comes Home).

Fresh off Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper directed the very first adaptation of Salem’s Lot back in 1979, and a new mini-series followed in its wake more recently, in 2004.

While the release for Salem’s Lot remains uncertain, it does at least feel as though we’re getting one step closer. Stay tuned.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Movies

The Birthday Murders: Viral Marketing Website Launches for ‘Longlegs’

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NEON has been absolutely slaying the marketing game for their horror output this year, and they’re kicking the Longlegs campaign into high gear with one more month until release.

A cryptic ad in The Seattle Times today (seen below) has led clever horror fans to discover TheBirthdayMurders.net, the brand new official viral marketing website for Longlegs.

The in-universe website details the victims of the serial killer known as Longlegs (Nicolas Cage), described as a “Satan-worshipping psycho” who has terrorized families throughout the Pacific Northwest for nearly three decades.

The website details, “A bloody trail of bodies here in the great state of Oregon attests to the depraved savagery of this one-of-a-kind serial killer. With over three dozen victims that we know of, LONGLEGS is one of the most prolific mass murderers ever to have graced the region, and his gruesome endeavors are the stuff of nightmares. At first, all of the killings appeared to be straightforward murder-suicides: the handiwork of average men who suddenly snapped and slaughtered their wives and children. But a series of eerie coded messages left at the crime scenes indicate that someone – or something – is influencing these horrific crimes. The cryptic letters are signed by someone calling himself LONGLEGS.”

“With thirty-eight kills to his name, LONGLEGS has torn apart the lives of eleven different families throughout the Beaver State. His victims were good people: honest fathers, decent mothers, innocent little children.”

The website is loaded with secrets, clues, and gruesome (faux) crime scene photos, and you might even find a mention of yours truly nestled in there. Poke around. Stay a while.

Longlegs arrives in theaters July 12.

The upcoming serial killer horror movie marks the return of director Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Gretel & Hansel). Nicolas Cage stars alongside Maika Monroe, with Monroe playing an FBI agent and Cage playing a serial killer.

In the film, “FBI Agent Lee Harker (Monroe) is a gifted new recruit assigned to the unsolved case of an elusive serial killer (Cage). As the case takes complex turns, unearthing evidence of the occult, Harker discovers a personal connection to the merciless killer and must race against time to stop him before he claims the lives of another innocent family.

The film is rated “R” for “Bloody violence, disturbing images and some language.”

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