Earlier this week, Vanity Fair shared the first official images from Warner Bros. and New Line's upcoming re-adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot, which is coming to the Max streaming service this October.
Now, Max has shared another batch of stills, this time featuring our first glimpse of Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones, Ghost in the Shell) as the evil Richard Straker, and what might well be the hand of the vampire Kurt Barlow as he clutches Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey) by the jaw.
In the book, Straker serves as Barlow's "familiar," doing his bidding and bringing him victims to feed upon and sometimes turn into other vampires. The character is human in King's novel, but was depicted as a powerful supernatural being in the 1979 miniseries from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper.
Last year, we got word that Warner Bros. had pushed Salem's Lot back to April 21, 2023 after previously planning to release it on September 9, 2022 Since then, the movie appeared to be removed from the schedule altogether, and there were concerns that it may be shelved following David Zaslav's decision to write off the Batgirl movie.
Then, back in March, New Line confirmed the rumor that the vampire horror film will skip theaters altogether and debut on the Max streaming service. Previous trade reports have noted that this "is not a reflection of the film’s quality, but is due to the fact that the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike has created a growing need for Max content."
An official premiere date has yet to be announced, but we're expecting a first trailer very soon.
The movie also stars Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp, Makenzie Leigh, and Spencer Treat Clark. Recent IT adaptation writer Gary Dauberman (Annabelle Comes Home) directs, and also penned the screenplay.
King's novel tells the story of a writer named Ben Mears who returns to his childhood town of Jerusalem's Lot, only to find himself drawn to an old house that traumatized him as a child. The Marsten House is an evil place, and an evil place attracts evil men. Unfortunately for Ben and the rest of the town, this time the evil men in question are powerful vampire Kurt Barlow and his devious familiar Richard Straker.
Are you looking forward to a new take on Salem's Lot? Be sure to drop us a comment down below.