What actually happens
Glowing holy water, then a two-year flashback
The story opens in a church in Guatemala, where Ben Mears and a boy named Mark Petrie are topping up little bottles of holy water. One bottle starts to glow, Ben says they've been found again, and the two decide to stay and fight whatever is nearby. Then it jumps back two years. Ben is a successful author who comes back to his hometown, Salem's Lot in Maine, to research a book on the Marsten House, a hilltop property with a reputation for being haunted. He can't rent it, because a newcomer named Richard Straker has already bought it and is opening an antique shop with a business partner, Kurt Barlow, who is mentioned constantly and never seen. Ben moves into Eva Miller's boarding house, starts dating a local woman named Susan Norton, and catches up with his old teacher Jason Burke. He tells Burke the house feels evil, and he remembers breaking into it on a dare as a child and seeing the ghost of its first owner, Hubie Marsten.
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A crate arrives, and nobody asks what's in it
One night a big crate is dropped off at the Marsten House, and after that people in town start vanishing or dying under odd circumstances. Ben and Straker are the obvious suspects, since both are new in town, but the crate turns out to hold Kurt Barlow, an ancient vampire who sent Straker ahead to get the town ready for him. Straker abducts a small boy named Ralphie Glick to hand over to Barlow. Barlow himself appears to the local realtor Larry Crockett, who dies of fright. Ralphie then comes back as a vampire and goes for his brother Danny.
The one boy in Maine who has seen enough horror films
After Danny's funeral, the undead Danny infects a gravedigger named Mike Ryerson and then goes after his schoolfriend Mark Petrie, the same Mark who appears in the Guatemala opening. This is the scene people remember, and it comes in the middle of the story. Mark is a horror film buff, so he knows what to do. He holds up a cross and Danny retreats. Mark comes out of it fine. The vampires in this town are not unbeatable, and the rest of the story is about people slowly figuring that out.
Dr. Norton and friends catch up, a little late
As the vampirism spreads, Ben, Jason Burke and Dr. Bill Norton gradually work out what is happening to the town and try to stop it. Burke suffers a severe heart attack after an encounter with the newly vampirized Ryerson. Barlow kills both of Mark's parents, and Mark escapes with help from a local priest. Marjorie Glick, the mother of Ralph and Danny, was presumed dead, but she revives on a mortician's table and attacks Ben. He defends himself with a makeshift cross, which is the second time in the story that a cross has done most of the work for the good guys.
A tour of the Marsten House with the wrong guide
Mark wants revenge for his parents and sneaks into the Marsten House, and Susan goes in after him because she is worried. Straker catches them both, and when Ben and Dr. Norton go in later, Straker kills Dr. Norton on a set of antlers before Ben shoots him dead. That is the bad part of the visit. Ben then finds Mark, who has been freed, and the two head for the cellar, where Barlow's coffin is waiting. The house is full of other vampires, who are the infected townspeople, and Susan is nowhere to be found.
The ending, explained
In the cellar, Ben and Mark find Barlow's coffin and destroy him with a stake through the heart. They flee the other vampires in the house and set the Marsten property on fire as they leave, and the wind carries the flames toward the town itself. As they drive off, Ben says the fire will flush the vampires out of hiding and purify the town. The story then goes back to Guatemala two years later, where the holy water bottles light up near any vampire, because the surviving vampires from Salem's Lot have tracked Ben and Mark down yet again. Back at their lodgings, Ben finds Susan lying in his bed. She is a vampire now, and she leans in to bite him as he bends to kiss her, but he stakes her first. Ben leaves with Mark, grieving, and knowing the vampires will keep coming after them.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there's a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: not fine, and we're sorry.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Salem's Lot scary?
Yes, Salem's Lot is a 5 out of 10. It is slow small-town dread with vampires and a little gore, spread over two episodes, and the creepiest stretch is in the middle.
How does Salem's Lot end?
Ben and Mark stake the vampire Barlow and burn down the Marsten House. In a final scene in Guatemala, Susan has become a vampire and Ben has to stake her, and the surviving vampires are still chasing them.
Does the dog die in Salem's Lot?
Yes, a dog dies in Salem's Lot.
Is there a post-credits scene in Salem's Lot?
Nobody has confirmed whether Salem's Lot has a scene after the credits.
Who is Kurt Barlow in Salem's Lot?
Kurt Barlow is an ancient vampire who arrives in Salem's Lot in a crate, after sending his servant Richard Straker ahead to prepare. Ben and Mark stake him in the cellar of the Marsten House.
