For some more details, feel free to check out the IFDB listing: https://ifdb.fanedit.org/__trashed-11/
Stephen King’s book was huge in 1975 and WB acquired the rights to make it into a feature. Loads of directors wanted to do it, but no one had a script that turned the 400 page novel into something faithful for the screen. It was then moved over to WB’s television department where it was felt it would better be presented as a miniseries. After a screening of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, director Tobe Hooper was brought on board to make the miniseries happen.
With a running time of 183 minutes, 1979’s Salem’s Lot still holds up relatively well today. While the fashion has aged, the scares have not!
I appreciate the miniseries and I enjoyed the story enough to check out Rob Lowe’s 2004 miniseries remake. The remake has its strong suits and isn’t nearly as bad as it is made out to be, but it can’t hold a stake to the original.
My goal was to shave the movie down to a more manageable run time in order to get to the scares a little quicker. Also, I have reframed the movie to be in widescreen!
The one major plot point that I felt needed to go was the Boom Boom Bonnie/Larry Crockett affair which also meant Cully had to go. My reasoning is that not only did it not have any effect on the overall story, but Crockett’s dead body is found and Ben is a suspect even though the Constable could’ve asked Weasel who would have easily pointed to Cully probably being a much more prominent suspect. Once Larry’s body is found, we never hear anything of the affair again and we see them escape the town before all hell breaks loose, so what was the point (in the context of the movie other than to show another shadier side of the town)? Removing this plot did not affect the story and is never mentioned after Larry is found.
The character Weasel was also completely cut from my version as he did not add anything to the main plot.
Major Changes:
*Love triangle plot gone
*Weasel character gone
*No more gratuitous shots of Straker driving into town
*Ben is no longer thinking of himself as the beacon for why the town starts going to hell
*No opening in Mexico
*Mike’s dog is gone
*Added a vampire hissing sound and a bite sound during both of vampire Ralphie’s appearances
*Meticulously reframed for 16x9 widescreen viewing
Original run time: 183 minutes
Fan Edit run time: 140 minutes
Time cut: 43 minutes
PM if you’re interested in viewing this! All I ask is that once you’ve had a chance to view it you leave a quick (or long) review here in the thread. Thanks!