Gary Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot —a movie so delayed even source-material author Stephen King became frustrated with the situation—is finally arriving soon, and it looks like it’ll be worth the wait. The vampire tale hits Max in October, which is a better fate than certain other recent Warner Bros. titles , but if Dauberman had his druthers, it would get a release even more befitting its mid-1970s aesthetic: at the drive-in.
In a new Vanity Fair profile, the horror veteran ( Annabelle , Annabelle: Creation , Annabelle Comes Home , The Nun , It , It Chapter Two , the upcoming Until Dawn adaptation) finally gets to talk about Salem’s Lot , which stars Lewis Pullman (Outer Range) as Ben Mears, the author whose hometown visit turns into a monster mash thanks to new arrivals Richard Straker ( Game of Thrones ‘ Pilou Asbæk) and the very mysterious Kurt Barlow. That drive-in dream has everything to do with the movie’s retro feel, which stays true to King’s original 1970s setting—a quality Dauberman specifically prioritized from the start. “Most of my stuff is set in the ’70s,” he told Vanity Fair.
“I love the music. I do love the costumes. I just love the vibe of it.
” And it goes beyond just the look of the film, he further explained; it’s also about the tone, which aims to capture the wild spirit of 1970s grindhouse movies. A poster for 1974 voodoo zombie revenge flick Sugar Hill was specifically worked into the production design for this reason. “You.