Salem’s Lot Rotten Tomatoes Score Debuts With Lowest Of 3 Stephen King Adaptations

After two years of delay, Salem’s place Landed an early Rotten Tomatoes score, but it’s quite a mixed bag for the wait. The upcoming film is the third direct adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 novel, in which writer Ben Mears returns to his titular hometown in the hopes of landing on an idea for his next novel, only to find that a nest of vampires started looting the locals. Written and directed by The Conjuring Universe Vet Gary Dauberman, The Salem’s place Cast is led by thunderbolts*s Lewis Pullman as Ben alongside Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Lei, Bill Camp and Nicholas Crovetti, among others.

Following its world premiere at Beyond Fest on September 25, Salem’s place Has found a debut Rotten tomatoes Critical score based on 19 tabulated reviews. The latest adaptation of the iconic Stephen King novel Now holds an approval rating of 63% on the review aggregateWhich indicates that critics are generally divided on their feelings about the movie. While the score is likely to fluctuate leading up to and after its October 3 streaming premiere, this currently makes it the lowest reviewed Salem’s place Adaptation behind the original 1979 and 2004 miniseries.

What this means for New Salem’s site

Critics find the movie to be a disparate mash-up of genres

Considering the extensive delays the movie encountered on its way to be released, the fact that Salem’s place debuted to such a mixed Rotten Tomatoes score may come as something of a disappointment to King fans who were excited by the adaptation. That said, while it may be the lowest reviewed to date of the major adaptations of King’s book, It’s not too far off from the 2004 miniseriesEven if it’s still very short of the 1979. See how the trio compares now on Rotten Tomatoes in the chart below:

Coming off its Beyond Fest premiere, one of the biggest things critics finally took issue with The new one Salem’s place is how it came to adapt the book. Many found it to be an underwhelming take on King’s novel, instead focusing on delivering popcorn scares rather than the insightful drama of a dying small town. Even the attempts at sincere drama have left many critics mixed, with Screen RantS Alex Harrison writes the following in his Salem’s place Overview:

Writer-director Gary Dauberman seems torn between the desire to make a conventional drama and a cool, scary movie. Far too often, the backstory and revealing moments we’re treated to don’t end up mattering all that much. Once someone finds themselves in a vampire-horror setpiece, it all goes out the window. The one real exception is Mark (Jordan Preston Carter), a young, genre-obsessed boy defined by his bottomless courage. Who he is always determines what he does, and he is the most consistently engrossing character because of it.

Our take on Salem’s site Rotten Tomatoes score

There is still a chance that the film will be a hit

Despite the disappointment of his low score, it doesn’t seem like it will end up hurting like that Salem’s place Performs with viewers on his max release. Fans of King’s novel and adaptations of his work have generally remained supportive of the new film during its various delays, especially after King shared on social media at various points his own support for the movie. Moreover, the release of the Halloween season will certainly attract many viewers on Max while they wait for Terrifying 3 And Smile 2 To be released later this month.

The other thing to keep in mind with Salem’s placeThe Rotten Tomatoes score is that, in general, audiences support King adaptations more than critics. Save for the 2004 miniseries directed by Rob Lowe, which scored lower with audiences than critics, 2019 Pet Sematary And In the tall grass, The majority of recent King-based works have seen positive reviews from viewersAnd the promise of a modern vampire horror movie might be just enough to make Dauberman’s movie a hit.

Source: Rotten tomatoes