Kennybee

Too many American films are amalgamations of other films. This is one of them. One of its lessons is people who may be possessed do not like to answer ringing phones. The incessantly ringing phone has become a staple of American mainstream horror/thriller films. Do you find a ringing phone scary? If so, this film may be for you.

Naomi Watts was not convincing as the odd boy's mother. What mother lets her kid walk alone to school in the pouring rain? She smokes and curses to prove how tough she is. Watts is as tough as Monica Potter. Jodie Foster or Hilary Swank could have done better. They are both credibly tough actresses. Watts is a lightweight girlie girl.

Why can't odd child actors just be children instead of spooky miniature adults? Haley Joel Osment was much better in THE SIXTH SENSE.

The dark, gloomy atmosphere was straight out of SEVEN. It did not make this film atmospheric. No police were involved because no one but one person seemed to notice people were dying at the same time on the same day. Other people in Seattle would have caught on to this while Watts smoked more cigarettes and used a few more curse words to convince herself she was tough. Why must such a bad film insult the intelligence of its audience is this film's biggest mystery.

Tobe Hooper's SALEM'S LOT is an engrossing, riveting tale of suspense. The atmosphere makes this film. There is a foreboding creepiness that sucks you into Salem's Lot long before the true horror begins.

David Soul manages to become a vampire slayer in the tightest jeans imaginable. Even faulty jeep doors and vengeful plumbers can't hold him back from probing into the secrets of the old, suspicious New England town of Jerusalem's Lot. What compels him is as fascinating as what he uncovers.

The townsfolk range from a shapely boarding house owner to a deliciously smarmy real estate agent to a truly moving school teacher looking for a way out of nowhere. SALEM'S LOT makes you feel you are among friends, sadly, a community of doomed ones. Mood is everything. If you let it, SALEM'S LOT will get under your skin and seep into your nightmares.

There are moments of true horror: the floating Glick brother window knockers, the caretaker in the creaky rocking chair, Marjorie Glick rising from the dead, the vampires vying for Mark's tender neck. Just a few great scenes in a chilling, memorable film.

SALEM'S LOT is the perfect complement to a sleepy, rainy afternoon at home alone. By nightfall, dare to leave a window ajar as the fog rolls in and the undead fatefully rise to quench their thirst.