Steven King’s Salem’s Lot has been adapted for the screen and features several Massachusetts locations
After countless delays for filming, horror fans can expect to watch a new Steven King classic starting October first on the platform Max.
By Addison Brewer-Hay
Salem’s Lot tells the story of a writer working to uncover an eerie town’s secrets after strange events take place revealing a vampire population. Featuring several Massachusetts locations collectively depicting the fictional town of Jerusalem’s lot, one Ipswich antique shop and its owner emphasize the local connection this movie has on its community.
Ann Orcutt, owner of the antique shop AnnTiques, explained in an interview with the Beacon what the filming process was for her shop and the delays that pushed back the film’s production.
After COVID shut down the world and the crew faced scheduling conflicts, the movie’s release was postponed until 2024. Once cast and crew was back on set in Orcutt’s store and sets in Princeton, Sterling, and Clinton, director Gary Dauberman brought King’s 1975 story to the film screen.
AnnTiques serves as the fictional store Barlow & Straker, owned by a new Jerusalem lot resident and his unseen partner. The crew also redesigned sections of Ann Orcutt’s store to resemble a barber shop and camera store for other scenes in the movie.
However, Orcutt’s family didn’t see her vision for her antique store when purchasing the business. “My husband thought I was loony tunes for wanting this place,” said Orcutt in an interview with the Beacon. Now it serves as more than just a charming shop filled with treasures and can be connected to a haunting narrative.
Getting the shop ready for filming was far from an easy process, and it took around eight weeks for the Orcutt couple to get organized before the camera began rolling. She recalled watching several of her neighboring businesses and the Ipswich Visitor Center become other mysterious sets where vampires would linger.
“They were very protective of anybody with a camera getting near” stated Orcutt as she wandered her town one night of filming. Ipswich pieced together Dauberman’s vision for this vampire thriller, bringing Massachusetts a new wave of fame but also chaos.
Jane Weisman, who chairs the library board of trustees in Ipswich, expressed the mayhem that the large number of crew, cameras, and trailers contributed to the neighborhood.“They took up the whole center of town,” Weisman emphasized “It was quite a hubbub.”
Now that filming has concluded and audiences can expect to watch the new movie, Ipswich has returned back to its normal state. To be sure that the vampire population followed the filmmakers, “I did ask them if they were going to do an exorcism when they left,” Orcutt concluded.