Salem's Lot (2004)

TNT aired the two-part television miniseries Salem’s Lot (2004) on June 20 and June 21 2004. On Thanksgiving in Detroit, Ben Mears attacks priest Donald Callahan at a homeless shelter. As they confront each other in Callahan’s office, Mears is shot and the ensuing struggle sends them both out a window onto a police car below. They are then hospitalized, where an orderly questions Mears about his motives for attacking a priest as a fellow Christian. Mears responds with ‘Jerusalem’s Lot’ before recounting his past to the orderly. Two years prior, he had returned to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot (also known as ‘Salem’s Lot’) in Maine to write a novel.

He shares with Susan Norton, a former art student and waitress, that as a child he had entered the house of Hubie Marsten, a Prohibition-era gangster, after accepting a dare. According to local folklore, Marsten was known for killing children. Ben is convinced that he heard the cries of his latest victim, but fear held him back from seeking out or aiding the child. Eventually, his aunt tracked him down. Eager to find closure and gather inspiration for his book, Ben intends to rent the house, only to find out it has already been sold by Larry Crockett to antique dealers Richard Straker and Kurt Barlow. Despite the idyllic appearance of Salem’s Lot, the town harbors a multitude of hidden secrets.