Film: 'Salem's Lot (2024)

I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again. Just made the Stansted Express with minutes to spare. The journey was greatly enlivened by the appearance, in Tottenham Hale, of a group of youngsters obviously out for a night of fun. I thought they were on the wrong train.. one asked me whether the train stopped in Meridian Water. It didn't ring a bell, so I said I didn't think so.. from their conversation, it became apparent that there was a music festival on there, which they were headed to, and some person in the group had just hopped on the first train they saw. Rather than the train they should have got, two minutes later. So I decided to be helpful by checking our route for them - I told them the next stop was Harlow. "HARLOW?!" one cried in dismay.. well, that was 15 minutes away. They had no choice but to wait for it though, trooping off there into the night. Good luck to them. Ironically, one kept saying they were going to Ibiza.. Obviously a reference to the song, but had they stayed on the train, they could really have gone there..

As to my flight, it was delayed, as usual. Only by 20 minutes, this time - funnily enough, my taxi driver in Ireland, who always picks me up, warned me that he also had a pickup coming in from Birmingham, whom he wanted to wait for. But I guessed what'd happen.. sure enough, that flight was also Ryanair, and delayed so much that he had time to drop me off first and go back for the Birmingham passenger.. Meantime, as I waited to board, one of the gate staff spotted someone with a case he though was too big for hand luggage, and made her put it in the sizer! Jeez, I haven't seen that done in years.. she swore blind that it conformed to regulation size, and she was probably right - unfortunately, that possibly didn't include the wheels. She kind of almost managed to squish it in the sizer - no joy though, she had to pay £65 to check it in..

Film for yesterday - well, lots were showing that I haven't seen and would like to, but mostly too late in the evening for me! So I went to the remake of 'Salem's Lot, based on the book by Stephen King. Never actually seen, or read, this story before - I was sure it'd be interesting. His vampire book, appropriately for where I'm just back from! Showing at a convenient time in the Omniplex, handily enough.

I had to hang on to turn off the washing machine for my mother, and so only just made the cinema in time - I came in during the last trailer, and was just seated when the film started. Now, straightaway I loved the atmosphere - it's set in 1975, in a small town called Jerusalem's Lot, and we get lots of shots of a friendly little community, lots of kids, happy families. There's a kind of sepia tint to the whole thing.

As I say, I wasn't familiar with the story - but it's basically about how the town becomes infested with vampires. I really loved the way it took so much from Dracula - the obsequious and mysterious servant (from somewhere in Europe) who prepares the spooky old house for the arrival of his master (who comes in a coffin and only emerges after dark, and has a love of spooky candles), the local intellectual - the modern-day Van Helsing - who helps with the hunt, and the Jonathan Harker stand-in, our protagonist, the writer who finds himself in the middle of a story weirder than anything he writes. Hell, we even see him under the power of three vampire women at one point, just like in Dracula! It's a very nice reference.

It's decently scary, with plenty of eerie shots of sinister-looking vampires - no cuddly ones here - and as I say, beautifully styled and very obviously referencing Dracula. The song that played over the closing credits - Sundown - put me in mind of the excellent True Blood soundtrack, in particular, Bones. Yep, very satisfying!

Less satisfying was my fortnightly shop in the local Super Valu. Mea culpa for not checking before I bought them - but for goodness' sake, one of the dinners I bought for myself was a day out of date, and the cake I decided to buy for my mother was a full two months out of date! Jeez, does no-one ever go through the stock there..?

Tomorrow, back in London, I'm with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) again - for Juno and the Paycock, by Sean O' Casey, showing in the Gielgud. Stars Mark Rylance. Funnily enough, I don't think I've ever seen this - eating beforehand in the nearby Bella Italia, yum!

On Tuesday, film - and now that I finally have the week's film list done, and have eliminated what I don't like from the top of it - I'm headed to The Teacher. Based on a true story, it's about a Palestinian teacher who begins a relationship with a UN worker stationed there. Closest showing to me is in The Garden Cinema - and late enough that I should be able to make it!

On Wednesday, I'm back with UITCS for A Face in the Crowd, about what happens when someone is plucked from obscurity to become famous. A warning about the dangers of idolisation of celebrities. Showing in the Young Vic - so I've booked the nearby Bar + Block, yum yum!

And on Thursday, it's looking like film again - I'm thinking of My Favourite Cake, a comedy from Iran (and I love Iranian film) about an old lady who never found love, but has an altercation with the religious police when they stop a young lady for having hair showing under her scarf. In the course of this, the old lady meets a taxi driver - invites him home, and they have an evening to remember.. Closest showing to me is in the Curzon Bloomsbury - the booking system is down again, as usual, but hopefully I shouldn't have a problem getting in.