History Literature / SalemsLot

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They're actually quite similar to Bram Stoker's version of vampires, as [[WordOfGod Stephen King acknowledges]] in one version of the book. Some additional features are created by the modern setting, such as Jimmy immediately and effectively treating his bite with medical disinfectant.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Barlow and Straker. In the case of the latter it's played with a bit – while he is unfailingly polite, even early on he makes no attempt at concealing his snobbish disdain for the rustic locals. Susan Norton lampshades this at one point.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Barlow and Straker. In the case of the latter it's played with a bit – while he is unfailingly polite, even early on he makes no attempt at concealing his snobbish disdain for the rustic locals.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Barlow is destroyed, but it's far too late for Jerusalem's Lot as the whole town has become overrun with vampires, and it's uncertain that Ben and Mark will be successful in eradicating them.]]

* MissingChild: Ralphie Glick disappears without a trace after he and Danny encounter... ''something'' in the woods on the way to visit Mark Petrie after nightfall. Matt Burke eventually surmises that [[spoiler:Straker sacrificed him to the "Lord of Flies" in preparation of Barlow's arrival.]]
** Ben mentions to Susan that, while researching Hubie Marsten for his book, he discovered that four local children had vanished during the period that Marsten lived in 'salem's Lot, and none of them were ever found. He suspects that Marsten – who'd been relieved of his position with the Boston Mob after the police questioned him about yet ''another'' youngster who'd gone missing (and was eventually found eviscerated) – was likely responsible for all of the disappearances.

* CassandraTruth: When Burke finds out about the vampires, he initially wants to tell everyone what happened. Ben reminds him that people don't believe in vampires: claiming to have seen them will cause the townsfolk to assume he's a weird old man and ostracize him.

* ImprovisedCross: Jimmy makes an extremely effective cross out of two wooden tongue depressors bound together: it is the faith the protects the bearer, channeled through the cross, rather than the cross itself.

-->'''Ben:''' I’m going back. Can you come with me?
-->'''Mark:''' Do you love me?
-->'''Ben:''' Yes. God, yes.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Jimmy Cody and Matt Burke trade insults whenever they're in the same room, but obviously care for each other very much.

* HateAtFirstSight: By the end of his first meeting with Susan's parents, her father thinks Ben is a great guy. Her mother, on the other hand, begins hating him at just about the same moment as his dad decides he's okay, which causes a big fight between her and her daughter.

* HollywoodHeartAttack: Matt Burke is a 63-year-old man, with all the health problems that come with old age. Just ''hearing'' a vampire is enough to give him a heart attack, [[spoiler:and the continued stress of dealing with the vampire infestation kills him.]]

* HollywoodHeartAttack: Matt Burke is a 63-year-old man, with all the health problems that come with old age. Just seeing a vampire is enough to give him a heart attack [[spoiler:and the continued stress of dealing with the vampire infestation kills him.]]

** The "thrusts his fists against the posts" ArcWords from ''Literature/{{IT}}'' appears here, in a different context.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Barlow and Straker. In the case of the latter it's played with a bit – while he's unfailingly polite early on, he also makes no attempt to hide his snobbish disdain for the rustic locals.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Straker and Barlow.

* {{Blackmail}}: While taking the keys to the cellar of the Marsten House, Hank Peters sees something that looks like a child's clothing and sneakers piled in a corner. When he tells Larry Crockett about it afterward and suggests that Barlow and Straker might be involved in Ralphie Glick's disappearance, Crockett tells him he could report it to the police... but adds that, if he does, "a lot of nastiness" (such as the married Peters fooling around with a waitress, and his dishonorable discharge from the Army) might come to light. This, along with fifty bucks that Crockett "forgot" to pay him for an earlier job, convinces Peters to forget all about what he saw.

* ShoutOut: Plenty, including ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' (both the original novel and the [[Film/HammerHorror Hammer]] film adaptations) and ''Literature/TheHauntingOfHillHouse''.
** WordOfGod says the town itself has shades of ''Literature/PeytonPlace'' and ''Theatre/OurTown''.

* PresentDay: More or less literally; the novel was published in October 1975, and the main part of the narrative spans September and October of that year, although the prologue and epilogue take place a year later.

* PresentDay: More or less literally; the novel was published in October 1975, and the main part of the narrative spans September and October of that year.

* PresentDay: Literally; the novel was published in October 1975, and the main part of the narrative spans September and October of that year.

* NewspaperBackstory: The prologue has an article detailing how Jerusalem's Lot has become a GhostTown and speculating as to the possible reasons, while the epilogue has a number of clippings Ben has collected in a scrapbook [[spoiler:since he and Mark fled the town a year earlier]] describing the a number of strange goings-on in the area.

* NewspaperBackstory: The prologue has an article detailing how Jerusalem's Lot has become a GhostTown and speculating as to possible reasons, while the epilogue has a number of clippings Ben has collected in a scrapbook [[spoiler:since he and Mark fled the town a year earlier]] describing the a number of strange goings-on in the area.

* ScrapbookStory: Not the whole thing, but it does begin and end with newspaper accounts of the strange goings-on in the Lot.

* CreepyCrossdresser: [[spoiler:George Middler, who has a suitcase full of panties and bras and stockings and who dresses in them behind closed doors whilst [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbating]].]]

** [[spoiler:Hal Griffen [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbates]] over six pornographic magazines at every opportunity.]]

* TheHermit: Dud Rogers, the hunchbacked custodian of the town dump.

* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Kurt Barlow is a charismatic ManOfWealthAndTaste in the novel (as befitting an {{Expy}} of Dracula): in the miniseries he's completely bestial, and requires Straker to do the talking for him.

** Ben mentions to Susan that, while researching Hubie Marsten for his book, he discovered that four local children had vanished during the period that Marsten lived in 'salem's Lot, and none of them were ever found. He suspects that Marsten -- who'd been relieved of his position with the Boston Mob after the police questioned him about yet ''another'' youngster who'd gone missing (and was eventually found eviscerated) -- was likely responsible for all of the disappearances.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Out of the heroes, only Ben and Mark survive and the town is taken over by the vampires. ''The Dark Tower'' books imply that Ben dies later on, with Mark's fate up in the air.]]

* KillEmAll: Out of a ''huge'' cast of characters, [[spoiler:Ben, Mark and Father Callahan are the only major characters to survive, and only a handful of the more minor characters survive]].
** [[spoiler:Callahan later dies in ''Literature/TheDarkTower'']].
** [[spoiler:Callahan also mentions in ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' that Ben died as well, as he visited his funeral in Mexico.]]