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Salem's Lot (1995 Radio Drama)

posted 9 years ago by elmadman_99
7 replies | jump to latest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Salem’s Lot was a 1995 BBC Radio 4 dramatization of Stephen King’s novel 'Salem's Lot written by Gregory Evans. It combines the psychological thriller and the classic horror genres, making references to Bram Stoker’s Dracula at several points and sometimes replicating its storyline.

Plot summary

Ben Mears, a successful writer who grew up in the (fictional) town of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine (known to locals as "Salem's Lot" or "The Lot"), has returned home following the death of his wife. Ben plans to write a book about the “Marsten House”, an abandoned mansion that gave him nightmares after a traumatic (and possibly supernatural) childhood experience. Once in town, he meets local high school teacher Matt Burke and strikes up a romantic relationship with Susan Norton, a young college graduate.

Mears discovers that the Marsten house has been bought by Mr. Straker and Mr. Barlow, a pair of businessmen who are also new to the town, although only Straker has been seen. Their arrival coincides with the disappearance of a young boy, Ralphie Glick, and the suspicious death of his brother Danny. It then becomes clear that Barlow is a vampire, and is taking over the town with Straker's help. Ben, Matt, Susan, and a few other residents of the Lot try to prevent the vampires from spreading. In the end, Ben and young Mark Petrie succeed in neutralizing Straker and destroy the master vampire Barlow, but, lucky to escape with their lives, are forced to leave the town to the newly created vampires.

Cast and crew

Stuart Milligan as Ben Mears
Theresa Gallagher as Susan Norton
Danny Cannaba as Mark Petrie
Doug Bradley as Kurt Barlow
Gavin Muir as Matt Burke
Kerry Shale as Jimmy Cody
Don Fellows as Parkins Gillespie
Nigel Anthony as Father Callahan
George Parsons as Nolly Gardner
Lorelei King as June Petrie
Vincent Marzello as Henry Petrie

Music by Elizabeth Parker of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Dramatised by Gregory Evans
Directed by Adrian Bean

Trivia

Mark's parents, Henry and June Petrie, are played by the husband-and-wife actors Vincent Marzello and Lorelei King

The principal villain, Kurt Barlow, is played by Doug Bradley, best known for his role as Pinhead in the Hellraiser movies.

Differences between the novel and radio adaptation

Although the story's overall structure remains similar, several lines have been consolidated and/or simplified, in keeping with the much-shortened radio format (seven 30-minute broadcasts).

Ralphie Glick's role is reduced

Dud Rogers and the junkyard see only cursory mention (much of the Barlow/Dud Rogers dialogue having been rescripted into the Barlow/Larry Crockett death scene)

Danny Glick's rise from the grave (and the death of Mike Ryerson) are now enabled/supervised by Barlow, who mesmerizes Ryerson and calls Danny forth

Father Callahan and Dr. Cody become quick/willing vampire-hunters, with virtually no complaint or skepticism

Mark Petrie uses shards of broken glass (rather than contortionist rope-tricks) to free himself from Straker's knots

The entire narrative is framed by Ben Mears' confession to a Mexican priest (who periodically interrupts the retelling with specific questions)

[–] gary_overman 9 years ago

I think it's been mentioned here before. But you brought up some of the differences, and I'm not certain the other thread did. Thank you.

How you been?

[–] elmadman_99 9 years ago

Hi Gary,

I'm fine, thanks for asking.

What you said is correct, the Radio Play has been mentioned before (by me) I purposely re-copied the info because it had dropped off the board, and simply because I think that the radio play is well worth a listen to, and that people should know about it.

I have the radio play stored as MP3 files in my phone so it is never too far away! Obviously the medium is different from either the film or the book, but I think the radio version is a good - if slightly different - presentation of 'Salem's Lot' overall, so yes SL fans would be well advised to give it a listen.

For anyone who is interested the entire show is available at the SFF Audio website as follows:

www.sffaudio.com/bbc-radio-drama-stephen-kings-salem-lot-podcast/

So it is there for one and all to enjoy. I advise anyone - fans in particular - who has not heard it and has some time on their hands to stop by and give it a listen, in my opinion it is well worthwhile.

On a slightly different point, Gary, I see that you started an earlier thread here about 'Vampire flicks in general' I actually have to drop by there and give in my two cents (because it is an interesting topic) but that means I have to get sat down in one place (for a change) and do some writing.

Cheers for now.

[–] hardball-73662 9 years ago

I like the radio version and have listened to it multiple times. The only thing that bothers me is the part when Susan calls Mrs. Miler and she says:

"Would you like to leave a message?"

and Susan replies,

"Tell him I'm going to the house."

Why didn't Eva tell Ben about Susan's call? He only learned about it when Mark told him later. If Eva told Ben Susan went to the house when Jimmy brought him home, they might have been able to save Susan or kill Barlow while he was still in the Marsten House. I find it odd that Eva would forget to do that because with a lot of boarders, it must be something she does all the time.

[–] elmadman_99 9 years ago

Hi 'Hardball-73662',

You raised a good point on why the message was not passed to Ben (which could have saved Susan's life) I think it is possible that it is either a plot hole or a little bit of sloppy writing in the case of the radio drama.

Obviously - for the radio presentation to follow the plot-line of the book, Susan has to get vampirized, which in turn points to a (necessary) slip-up by Eva in not mentioning the information to Ben - in a more timely manner at least.

To be honest, I really quite like the radio drama. Obviously there are other presentations out there, but I like the way that the radio version is slightly more true to the plot-line of the book, so it does have a special place in my heart.

Just to reiterate what has already been posted on the thread here:

For anyone who is interested the entire show is available at the SFF Audio website as follows:

www.sffaudio.com/bbc-radio-drama-stephen-kings-salem-lot-podcast/

So it is there for one and all to enjoy. I advise anyone - fans in particular - who has not heard it and has some time on their hands to stop by and give it a listen, in my opinion it is well worthwhile.

Cheers for now.

[–] TorontoJediMaster 9 years ago

It's good to see some other fans of the 1995 radio drama.

I've said for a long time that it's the most faithful adaptation of the novel by far.

I figured that Eva had just forgotten or Ben didn't see the message -as he'd just gotten back from seeing Marjorie Glick rise as a vampire- he likely had other things on his mind.

It wouldn't have saved Susan though. She was there in the cellar when Barlow arose and turned within minutes of his rising at sunset. At sunset, Ben and Jimmy were at Maury Green's mortuary witnessing Marjorie Glick rise as a vampire. By the time Ben got back to Eva's it would've been far too late to have saved Susan.

Of course, the bigger plot hole is how dumb Susan -and slightly less- Mark are in going to the house alone. Susan learned from Mark that it was all real and Matt hadn't hallucinated it. Instead of going up there alone, that was the time to go back and get help -and proper gear- and go back in force. Mark, on his part, should've had enough common sense to decide that after hearing that there were adults in town who believed -or at least suspected- that it would've been far wiser to go see them and team up. (That's a plot hole from the book that I can't fault the drama on. The other major plot hole is just how Barlow can get into the Petrie home without an invitation.)

[–] elmadman_99 8 years ago

Of course, the bigger plot hole is how dumb Susan -and slightly less- Mark are in going to the house alone. Susan learned from Mark that it was all real and Matt hadn't hallucinated it. Instead of going up there alone, that was the time to go back and get help -and proper gear- and go back in force. Mark, on his part, should've had enough common sense to decide that after hearing that there were adults in town who believed -or at least suspected- that it would've been far wiser to go see them and team up. (That's a plot hole from the book that I can't fault the drama on. The other major plot hole is just how Barlow can get into the Petrie home without an invitation.)

That's well said 'TorontoJediMaster', and obviously in a 'real world' situation the above suggestion would be level-headed (not to mention common sense) solution.

However having said that isn't the mainstay - in fact an absolute prerequisite - of horror movies that people should ALWAYS do something that they know to be either wrong or downright dangerous - i.e. that the teens should go and wander in the woods when they know that it is not safe to do so, or take a idiotic dare in order to prove their worth etc.?

What I am trying to say is that characters in horror movies are required to do moronic things in order to put themselves in the way of danger and thus pave the way for the action or horror sequences to take place.

Silly, I know, but a great truism nonetheless.

Please post with any thoughts.

Cheers for now.

[–] elmadman_99 8 years ago

By Justin Miller

Reprinted from:

The Saquarry Analyses

"I think you might want to try reading a book every now and then to get those creative juices flowing, it sounds like your brain and thinking capacity has disappeared somewhere within your exaggerated sense of self worth."

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Radio Drama Review: Salem's Lot (1995)

Well, here is a radio drama review finally. I say finally because I've been reviewing things for almost four years and have never actually reviewed an audio drama. Shame on me. They're actually worth a lot if done correctly, and this is one of the best I've heard. Anyway, before getting into this, I should welcome you all to yet another horror-filled month of reviews and enjoyment! October Nights are here, and these reviews are for you, dear reader, so much more than they are for me. I say that because every year I literally kill myself to get these reviews done for the amusement of the masses. I enjoy the hell out of writing them, but reviewing 31 horror-related things in 31 nights is often a little insane, even for me.

This is my forth annual October Nights, and as I mentioned in the post leading up to this first post, I think it will be a fascinating month of reviews. The last several years I've started the October month out with a Salem's Lot review, and I'm doing the exact same thing every year until I run out of adaptations to review. Anyway, this year is the radio drama adaptation by the BBC, and, honestly, it is by far the best adaptation I've had the pleasure of enjoying.

It literally hits most of the major points in the novel without missing a beat. And it's incredibly enjoyable to hear those scenes from the novel done incredibly effectively in an audio format. While both miniseries are enjoyable and fun in their own right, both make some pretty huge mistakes in the end. I spoke of both of the miniseries before here and here. (I also reviewed a sequel and the book itself if you want the story of what's happening, which I'm not going to get into here.) The miniseries alter and change characters and the ultimate fate of characters so much that it does affect some of my enjoyment of them. While both adaptation are actually quite good in their own right as adaptations or simply as standalone stories, both do suffer a little from their departure from certain parts of the novel's narrative.

This is one of the few books that I think is seriously near-perfect, which is why the changes of the adaptations actually bother me at all. Changing Callahan's character in the most recent miniseries was a grievous mistake on the creators' part, especially when Father Callahan would have such a pivotal part to play in The Dark Tower series after the events of 'Salem's Lot. And in the first television movie, the fact that characters are omitted (especially Dr. Cody) has always bothered me.

Now, speaking of this radio drama, most of the book is there. Yes, some parts (like the side-stories of characters who are not main characters) are either completely omitted or mentioned in an off-handed way by more main characters. The plot mostly focuses on just the core five or six characters of the narrative, barely mentioning the side-characters at all unless they become important to the main plot. While the purist in me loves the entire novel, filler and all, the writer in me loves how the audio drama accomplishes what it does. Of course some things need to be taken out of the narrative. I'm mostly glad that the characters and their stories aren't changed at all really. And I'm glad that the story unfolds basically how it does in the novel. While there are some big changes, like the bookends of the episodes of the radio drama involving Ben and Mark telling their story to a Mexican priest, most are cosmetic changes and omissions, something I cannot see a problem with.

Honestly, the focus on the main characters works incredibly well, especially backed up by fantastic vocal work by the voice actors all around. Mark is the only character who even sounds a little off, but most of the characters sound exactly like they should with Straker and Barlow (played by Doug Bradley of Hellraiser fame) being literally incredible voices in their own rights.

The production is creepy, especially as a vampire story. It works every bit as well as Dracula or some of the other more macabre vampire stories out there (of which there are far too few for my liking). Some of the scenes work very well, especially any scene involving Barlow, who has singularly jumped up my list of terrifying villains in fiction to basically take the top spot. Of special note is Matt Burke (played by Gavin Muir), whose voice is a pleasure to listen to. The acting is especially good all around, and you'll find yourself literally having goosebumps if you listen to this late at night.

I had the special circumstance to not only be in a small New England town on the day I listened to this, but also to be out and about on an overcast fall day as I listened. My job gives me the ability to listen to many audiobooks and audio dramas and such, and I took advantage of it on the perfect day to do so. I know that not everybody out there lives or works in a small New England town much like the titular 'Salem's Lot, but if that chance comes up, this is perfect listening in situations like that.

I wholly throw my support behind this adaptation of one of my favorite books. I recommend this completely, unlike last years debacle with the terrible A Return to Salem's Lot. Check it out if you get the chance. I doubt you'll be disappointed. Also, here's a website and podcast that you can download it from, just because I'm a great guy.

http://www.sffaudio.com/bbc-radio-drama-stephen-kings-salem-lot-podcast/

The only negatives that I can think of are Mark (who sounds funny to my ears) and some of the acting which can be slightly overdone. Also, at times, the action moments can sound very confusing. But as an audio adaptation, I would put this up there with some of the greats. Give it a listen if you want a spooky time, just make sure you have three-and-a-half hours to spare to listen to it.