Back to back Stephen King reviews... I am going to get crucified for this.
If Firestarter was more of a sci-fi thriller, this ones pure horror.
Before I went and laid my paws on this book, I happened to watch a David Soul starrer called Salems Lot way back in the late seventies. It was the first horror movie I had ever watched. And it was the only horror movie that had ever managed to touch a raw nerve inside that made me stare at the locked window in my bedroom throughout the night....
The movie, is based on this frightening novel by Stephen King - Salems Lot
This book is the successor of Carrie and Stephen King manages to up the ante in this one...
Vampires!
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The tale is set in a town called Jerusalem’s Lot - a quiet community that was soon to lose its sanctum, thanks to some blood sucking vampires.
The hero of this tale, Ben Mears, who was raised in Jerusalem’s lot, returns to the town to write a novel. A few days after his arrival, the townsfolk get a rude awakening when a little boy disappears. From this point forth, Stephen King unravels a series of vampiric killings that includes one of the scariest bit of horror fiction I have ever read...
In a town where fear ran wild, Ben Mears makes it his personal agenda to eradicate the vampires. He traces the source of the manifestation and makes it his mission to destroy the very root of the evil that held Jerusalem’s lot in its vice like grip...
Will he succeed or will he pay a heavy price just like the rest of Jerusalem’s lot’s inhabitants?
The book holds the key... but not if you are weak hearted....
Verdict
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What starts out as a quiet evening in an uneventful town soon becomes a death-fest that can leave even the strongest of minds, a little squeamish. Salem’s Lot showcases Stephen King’s mastery over the genre and his uncanny ability to weave enough chills and thrills into the plot. Worth a read... any day... er night too (if you can handle it).
On the movie
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I watched it in two formats - one on a movie screen way back in the late 70s and then the multi part series (which was edited and made into that movie I saw) on two video tapes. The movie starred David Soul who played Hutch in the television series Starsky and Hutch. Its one of the best horror flicks I have ever seen.
viva stephen king...
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