Stephen King’s novels and short stories were mined relentlessly during the late 70’s and through the 80’s and the early 90’s. For the most part the film and tv adaptations of his work were adequate and passable. Some were downright awful and made one wonder if King was just trying to cash as many of his work for licensing paychecks or if he really thought the studios who purchased the rights would actually do a good job adapting them. One such studio which seemed to have done a very good job adapting one of King’s greatest works, Salem’s Lot, was Warner Brothers who adapted the classic vampire novel to become a mini-series for CBS.
I never saw the mini-series when it first aired in 1979, but I did see it a few years later when it re-aired on TV and then many more times on VHS and then on DVD. Tobe Hooper directed the hell out of this mini-series and turned what was a very complex modern retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula into a 3-hour mini-series that was both gothic and downright terrifying despite the restraints of TV.
While the mini-series does seem dated now it still retains that creepiness, foreboding atmosphere and scares which made Hooper’s Salem’s Lot one of the better King adaptations. The scene which will always stick with me and still gives me the chills whenever I watch it is when Danny Glick’s younger brother visits him in the hospital. This scene is just downright scary whether watching it as a 9 year-old or one in their 30’s.
Through the Shattered Lens 
Nice one.
I saw this on DVD about a year ago. Just as you said, viewed now, it seems dated, a perception that is not helped by the obvious commercial-lead-in scene endings. But it still generates that creepy atmosphere and constant sense of dread you described.
Another scene that supports your praise of the direction is the one that appears after the scene you featured above, labeled “coffin”. I like how realistically it depicts the likely clumsiness with which people under extreme pressure would perform. Lee really pushes Mark hard into the table, and his stake bangs into the overhead light. Meanwhile, the vampire’s minions start closing in on the kid. Very effective scene.
I had forgotten that Tobe Hooper had directed this. Considering how effective “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was, as well, which .s a surprisingly inexplicit film, yet manages to keep the viewer in a state of fearful anticipation (and, while I’m at it, “Poltergeist”), I’d have to conclude that Hooper is, at least at times, a great horror director.
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Yeah, that climactic scene in the cellar was very well shot. In fact, the whole mini-series had many scary moments and the fact that Hooper was handcuffed by TV censors helped him to go the scary route.
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That hadn’t occurred to me, but it is almost certainly true. The restrictions imposed by television broadcast content rules inspired more atmosphere and genuine scariness than would have been produced if there were no limits on graphic depiction.
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