FINAL GIRL explores the slasher flicks of the '70s and '80s...and all the other horror movies I feel like talking about, too. This is life on the EDGE, so beware yon spoilers!

Feb 17, 2009

scenes i love - salem's lot

As Ben fashions a cross out of medical tape and tongue depressors, Mrs Glick awakens as a vampire. The waiting...the dread, knowing that the sheet covering her body is going to move- is almost too much to bear. I forget about it sometimes, but man, I heart Salem's Lot.

And David Soul totally brings it in this scene.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

A great scene from a great movie, I'm going to have to watch it again soon now that you mentioned it!

Verdant Earl said...

I loved Geoffrey Lewis in the rocking chair in that one scene. Just great and very creepy.

I heart Salem's Lot too. Far superior to the 2004 version.

spazmo said...

This mini-series was so frightening, I actually forgot my long-standing hatred of Lance Kerwin. For a few hours, anyway.

And there was a 2004 version? Sigh. Of course there was.

-Crazy Ralph pops out of pantry-

Can anyone think of a classic horror movie that hasn't been "re-imagined" or otherwise bastardized?

Why bother teaching screewriting in film school anymore? All you need nowadays is an Acquisitions Department, a bit of cash, and Presto! Instant profit!

This is the exact kind of pretend-commodity-swapping system that precipitated the current economic crisis. Have we learned nothing?
Must we bankrupt ourselves artistically, as well?

Doomed. We're all doomed.

-Crazy Ralph gets on his bike and pedals away bowleggedly-

bluesmoothie said...

Final Girl, what do you think of the Rob Lowe, Donald Sutherland remake?

Anonymous said...

A few things...
-After seeing FT13th on Friday (duh) We went home and watched the original. I'd forgotten about my favorite scene in the original. When the hapless cook hitches a ride and they run into crazy Ralph outside the dinner. (which by the way the creepy guy sweeping the floors, who magically teleports back and forth behind the counter is the creepy waving clown guy in House of 1000 Corpses.) After warning said future victim cook Ralph jumps on his trusty bike. Due to editing, the camera cuts away from the old man starting his truck and cuts to Ralph. Who now takes off on his bike. The results are Ralph now owns a gas powered bike. We laughed so hard we ended up rewinding it 3 times...almost as classic as Ben punching out Barabara in NOTLD...ahh rewind. How I love you.
- Salems lot. Danny Glick floating outside the window scraping and tapping the glass.

Alana Noel Voth said...

Yeah, that's a good one.

Stacie Ponder said...

spazmo- I don't know what I like more, Crazy Ralph-style monologues or your vendetta against Lance Kerwin. I mean, who hates Lance Kerwin? :D

mick, I've only seen a VERY small bit of the remake. Casting Rutger Hauer as Barlow...I don't know. It makes it a completely different type of film. Whether that's good or bad, I can't say, but I love the original so much that my view of the remake would surely be tainted. Who's seen it? Is it any good?

chelzo, I'll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for that the next time I watch it! :D

AE said...

The 2004 remake is alternately not scary and unintentionally hilarious. I sat through the whole thing (not having seen the original miniseries, only read the book) but remember almost nothing about it. There is one bit at the end where Vampire Susan delivers a bit of crucial exposition... you know she's a vampire because she's wearing crazy eye shadow, but somehow she reverts briefly to her human personality. It's pretty funny but not worth wading through the rest to get to.

Stacie Ponder said...

But "crazy eye shadow" sounds so damn tempting!!

I love the way they indicate that women have gone all vampire in some movies...like your example, or how Amanda Bearse grew 8 additional inches of hair upon turning in Fright Night...

Anonymous said...

Chop-a-holic on a blogging spree...

Spazmo, sadly there is only ONE movie that hasn't been remade I can think of (now that BBC is remaking Day of the Triffids) and while it's borderline sci-fi/horror, it is the grandest vision ever put to celluloid... They Froze Hitler's Head.
Sadly, every other film I could think of is in some way shape or form related. I'd have to say the least remade and due for a GOOD remake/retelling is of the oldest (well a few frames still exist) example of horror cinema: Ol' Humpback himself, the big Q needs to ring some hollywood bells! The more likely film for them to remake is Creature from the Black Lagoon but this time they'll CGI everything except the backgrounds in a reverse Ralph Bakshi kinda way. Don't worry about storyline either! Just throw a little (very little) extra money for some flashy effects and a name brand voice or three.

It's sad how far things have come from the days of script based movies isn't it?

fluid69 said...

I always remember the Glick kids floating about outside the window. Scared the crap out of me as a kid.

Mike said...

There's a scene in the remake of Salem's Lot in which Ben runs into Susan- now a vampire and apparently dolled up for a night on the town. She even crimped her hair.
When she tells Ben that her own stupidity led her to her fate inside the Marsten house, Ben soothes Susan by suggesting that she had not been stupid, merely reckless.
Their sweetness toward each other is weirdly touching, given the context of the conversation.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I love Salem's Lot. What a scary vampire. I found your site because I just uploaded a new episode of my podcast reviewing Salems Lot. The show reviews horror from a Christian perspective (I'm an ordained minister in the UK). Check it out on
http://theflicksthatchurchforgot.podomatic.com/

Thanks for your great site!