meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Stephen Kingcast

New Episode-Tobe Hooper's Salem Lot (1979)

Stephen Kingcast

Constant Reader

Tv & Film, Arts, Arts:books, Books

4.7680 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 74 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome back to the Stephen Kingcast. As I continue to explore King's adapted televised works, I re-examine the seminal 1979 Salem's Lot two part TV movie.  The original review was published in the early fall of 2014, and in this updated and expanded examination, I provide an additional half hour of context and appreciation to Tobe Hooper's vision.  Original description: "In this week's episode of The Stephen Kingcast, I examine 1979's adaptation of Salem's Lot. But first, I read some listener e-mail. I then finish up the review with some recommendations. Enjoy!" As always, if you have any thoughts on anything related to Stephen King or vampires, write into stephenkingcast@yahoo.com Follow on Bluesky, Facebook, Tik Tok and Instagram.  Stay organized and up to date with all things Stephen King at stephenkingcast.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello everyone and welcome to the Stephen King cast, One Man's Musings on the Works of Stephen King.

0:05.0

Each week I will review one entry in the bibliography of Stephen King and the chronological order of publication.

0:10.0

And today what I will be doing, I will be discussing 1979's television adaptation of Stephen King's second novel.

0:26.2

That's right, adapted by Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Helmer, Toby Hooper.

0:31.7

I am talking about the classic TV adaptation of Salem's Lot.

0:38.0

Now, what you have before you, this is just, first of all, welcome everyone to the Stephen King cast.

0:39.0

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

0:45.2

Let me contextualize this episode a little bit for you because what you're going to be getting very, very shortly is the review that I published in 2014 when I started the podcast. However, it is now 2026. It's January of

0:57.6

26. And actually, no, it's February of 26. Hello, February. And there's been a lot of time

1:06.3

that has passed between now and then. And on top of that, the review itself that I give, it's a little cheeky, a little comic,

1:16.1

and I do poke fun at it a little bit.

1:18.7

And so I still stand by it.

1:21.1

It's a strong episode that you're going to listen to, but there are some flowers that I

1:26.6

need to give to Salem's Lot that maybe I didn't give to it

1:30.2

the first time around. And in the 12 years that have passed, that's 12 years further away we are

1:38.1

from what vampires used to be. And what I mean by that is every year that goes by,

1:46.1

we head closer and closer to a more modern age.

1:55.1

And vampires are rooted in such an old world mythology.

2:07.3

The imagery, the iconography, the basis of horror that we get from Salem's lot is rooted in a mythology that unfortunately is not so present anymore.

2:19.6

And so what do I mean by that?

2:22.2

Think about the vampire stories that have permeated our culture for the last 20 years or so.

2:32.0

You know, we've had Twilight and True Blood.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Constant Reader, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Constant Reader and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.