Mike Flanagan’s underrated $72 million horror film, made 5 years ago, subtly follows Stephen King’s new streaming hit

WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Salem’s Lot (2024)!Max has a new streaming horror hit on his hands with a 2024 adaptation. Salem sectionwhich has a subtle connection to Mike Flanagan’s 2019 film adaptation of the Stephen King book. Doctor Sleep. Stephen King’s books are known for often containing Easter eggs, subtle references, or direct connections to his other stories, with many of his horror novels set in Maine involving references to characters and local events. One frequent source of connections in his stories is the location of Jerusalem’s Lot, which is known to be home to various evil creatures and supernatural beings.

Max Original movie Salem sectionwhich, upon its premiere, became the most popular film on the streaming service.This is the latest version of King’s 1975 book of the same name, which explores the titular city overrun by vampires. Some of Salem sectionThe characters eventually appeared in other King stories such as Dark Towerbut other connections to his universe are more subtle. For example, while 2024 Salem section The film does not make this reference due to the earlier timeline, the main location becoming important to the villainous True Knot cult in Kings. Doctor Sleep novel adapted by Mike Flanagan in 2019.

The vampire cult of Doctor Sleep’s True Knot has taken refuge in Jerusalem.

Psychic vampires are one of the many evils that inhabit Salem.

Led by the villainous Rose the Hat, played by Rebecca Ferguson. Doctor Sleep, The True Knot is a sinister cult from Stephen King’s 2013 novel that murderously siphons off the “steam” of children. make yourself strong and young. Shine is considered the villain vampires, as their ability to drain light and their method of killing act similar to a vampire sucking blood from a person. The 2019 film is a sequel to the Stephen King film. Shine The story follows an adult Dan “Danny” Torrance as he battles the True Knot and tries to protect Abra, a powerful young girl with the Radiance.

Although this reference is not clear in the 2019 film, Stephen King Doctor Sleep the book reveals that the True Knot has a refuge in Salem’s Lot.. 2024 Salem section The film, like King’s 1975 novel, frequently discusses the evil that plagues a small Maine town, so it makes sense that Doctor SleepThe vampire-like band True Knot will feel comfortable in a location already overrun with bloodsucking vampires. While it is unclear when the True Knot first appeared on the Salem Precinct, it appears to have occurred after the events of Kurt Barlow’s vampire attack in 1975.

Doctor Sleep He doesn’t actually go to Jerusalem’s Lot throughout his story, but references to the area are a reminder of the many other evil supernatural forces that lurk in Stephen King’s fictional universe. The 2019 film primarily takes place in New Hampshire and then returns to New Hampshire. Shine”s Overlook Hotel in Colorado, so there are no known direct matches between Danny, Rose Hat and the vampires from Salem section. However, it is likely that Rebecca Ferguson’s Rose Hat and her True Knot colleagues went there after Salem sectionends.

Doctor Sleep’s connection to Salem’s fate underscores the harsh reality of Mark and Ben’s ending.

Ben and Mark returned to fight Salem’s vampires a year later in the book

Considering Doctor SleepThe book begins almost 40 years after Salem sectionConsidering that the film added another six years to this, the True Knot’s choice of location for his hideout highlights the sad reality of the city. After Ben Mears and Mark Petrie escaped Salem, the city was still infested with vampires and evil creatures, despite the fact that they had successfully killed Kurt Barlow. In addition, Jerusalem’s Lot is still inhabited by vampires, and the True Knot has become even worse decades later, if you remember the book’s epilogue, which was cut from the 2024 book. Salem section movie.

At the end of King’s 1975 novel, the epilogue reveals that Ben and Mark return to Salem Lot a year later. The duo decide to fight the vampires again, devising a plan to start a brush fire in the forest outside the city, lure the vampires out of their hiding places, and kill as many of them as possible remaining. Subsequent Stephen King stories imply that Ben and Mark managed to kill many vampires, but some of them will remain forever.

Considering the fact that Doctor SleepTrue Knot later created a shelter, but what’s even more frustrating is that Ben and Mark’s plan didn’t work to truly keep evil out of the Salem lot.. Not only will the blood-sucking vampires remain in the city, but new evils such as psychic vampires will arrive and join them, leaving Jerusalem’s Lot a cursed place.

Why does the Salem site attract so many evil groups and species

The Salem site has a dark history that predates the vampire attack.

Even before Kurt Barlow arrives at Salem’s Lot in the 2024 film, It has been established that the city has always been a place of ominous events and evil forces.. The city’s attraction to the forces of evil is largely symbolized by the Marsten House in Salem section. The site was originally the home of former hitman Hubert “Hubie” Marsten, who killed his wife and then committed suicide many years before the events of the film. However, evil still finds solace within these walls, and it is here that Kurt Barlow decides to take up residence and begin his vampiric horrors in 1975.

Since early colonization The Salem site has a rich history of cults, supernatural occurrences, occult interests, and mysterious events.. In the late 1700s, a preacher found a book about the occult in town, after which he and his followers mysteriously disappeared from Salem. It seems that the dark history of Salem’s Lot and its unexplained supernatural phenomena has simply attracted the forces of evil as a place where groups like vampires and the True Knot can more freely pursue their sinister deeds. Perhaps some forces on his land are even increasing their evil.

Salem’s Lot 2024 captures the darkest moment of Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep

The painful death of Ralphie Glick is reminiscent of the death of Bradley Trevor from Doctor Sleep

In addition to the more direct connection to the True Knot having refuge in Jerusalem’s Lot, Mike Flanagan’s famous book Doctor Sleep film and Gary Dauberman film Salem section Both films contain gruesome scenes of child deaths. Maybe most difficult scene to watch Doctor Sleep it’s the harrowing murder of Bradley Trevor (Jacob Tremblay).the little guy who was captured, tortured and killed by the True Knot for his “steam” after a baseball game. Tremblay’s blood-curdling screams make the scene incredibly unsettling and harrowing, highlighting the truly vile and disgusting nature of the Rose Hat and the True Knot.

Bye Doctor SleepThe child’s death scene is more graphic and intense, Salem section there is a similar moment at the beginning of the 2024 film. After Kurt Barlow is first brought to Salem’s Precinct, Richard Straker brings the vampire, the little boy Ralphie Glick, as a human sacrifice to begin his reign of terror. Ralphie then appears before Kurt Barlow and the boy screams horribly as the vampire tears him apart. and blood is seen splashing onto Straker’s face. Both moments in the Stephen King adaptation are extremely unsettling beginnings of a terrifying takeover by villains taking root in Jerusalem.