'Salem's Lot was the second-scariest Stephen King novel that I read when I was younger (It was the scariest, with the scariest short story award going to 'The Mist'). 'Salem's Lot was also the only book that I can remember which made me put it down because I was so terrified by one of the scenes. The scene in question is the one where Jimmy is impaled because he tried to walk down to the basement of the boarding house, only to find that the vampires removed the stairs and put knives at the bottom (they sneakily also made the light switch inoperable, so that Jimmy did not see this coming). Gruesome. I'm not sure why 'Salem's Lot affected me so much except that there are a number of very graphic and scary elements and I was pretty clearly an impressionable reader at that age.
Upon rereading it, though, I was less impressed--although I did find myself looking down into the basement of the house in which I was staying a few times, just to reassure myself that the stairs were still there. Parts of it were written in a very clunky way, including a line that was essentially, 'She felt a drop of horror in her stomach, like a fetus of evil' (I'm paraphrasing because I don't have a copy of the book here. Future quotes will be more accurate). That's pretty awful. Mind you, Stephen King was writing at a fast clip, so I can see how you might come up with clunky similes or have repetitive sentence structure from time to time.
What I saw in 'Salem's Lot this time around was the roots for many of King's other novels (and the fact that these vampires can be easily warded off with a crucifix and by refusing them an invitation into the house, two facts that I evidently missed the first time around). For instance, the group that is formed to combat the vampires reminded me of a ka-tet, which will be a feature of his later books, in particular the Dark Tower series. A ka-tet is a group brought together because its members share a fate, and there are numerous mentions of the fact that one of the principal characters, Ben Mears, feels as though everything is coming together as if by fate--he is also a writer, which is an important trope in these early books. Of course, there is also a group, which is a key feature of a ka-tet. One of its members, Father Callahan, clearly stuck with King, since he will become part of the Dark Tower ka-tet at points--and we get the end of his story, which becomes more surreal and otherworldly after he leaves the Lot.
Other recurring themes in this one include the haunted house, which is a favorite King device. Actually, in this case, the haunted house extends beyond its walls and envelops the town in its evil, a precursor to It--they also share the fact that children are the first victims. There is a background provided for the Marsten House and why it became this nexus is provided, at least in part. I'm quite certain that King has more background about this place and why Kurt Barlow chose it as his headquarters. There will be numerous haunted houses to come (The Shining was next, after all) and while this one is very effective, I think that the most striking one that I have found in his works so far was in The Waste Lands, but I am getting ahead of myself here. I do like that Marsten House looks over 'Salem's Lot (sort of like an Overlook...), which is the opposite of It, which finds its home under the town. Neat reversal.
I found this vampire story somewhat amusing because I think that it is one of the more homoerotic that I have run across since so many of the vampires are men at first. In a way, this feels like a reversal of Bram Stoker, where Dracula's Brides are gathered around like a harem.
The plan is to read all of Stephen King's books, including the non-fiction, so I will read Danse Macabre, which is his reflection on the legacy of horror writing. From what I understand, he talks about the cult TV show 'Dark Shadows' as unsuccessful, claiming that television is a bad medium for horror. But it's hard for me to imagine that he wasn't in some way influenced by a show that features a dysfunctional family living in a house that features considerable paranormal activity, including a vampire. And while the show as a whole may not have succeeded in terrifying its audience, I have found that some of its most effective moments occur during the early days of discovering that Barnabas is a vampire, such as when he has hypnotized Maggie (or whatever he did to her) and she is walking around, dressed in white as his lost love Josette, in a trace--these scenes were enhanced because they were shot in black and white, making them even creepier. Not to mention that both are set in Maine. Although 'Salem's Lot is a very different approach when compared to 'Dark Shadows', I can't help but think that there is a slight anxiety of influence.
Incidentally, I learned last night that all of the Barnabus and beyond 'Dark Shadows' is available for instant view on Netflix. Enjoy!
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