What actually happens
A crate arrives and nobody asks about it
In 1975, the author Ben Mears returns to Jerusalem's Lot, his old hometown, looking for inspiration for a book. He starts a romance with Susan Norton, who lives with her overbearing mother and wants to leave town. Eleven-year-old Mark Petrie is bullied at his new school and becomes friends with his teacher, Matt Burke. Straker, a strange man from overseas, opens an antique store and moves into the Marsten House. He has a large crate shipped over from overseas and puts it in the basement. Hidden inside is a coffin with his master, the vampire Kurt Barlow. Straker kidnaps Ralphie Glick, a friend of Mark's, and offers him to Barlow. Something unseen then attacks Ralphie's brother Danny, who dies of what looks like pernicious anemia. After his funeral, Danny climbs out of his coffin as a vampire and bites the gravedigger, Mike.
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A cross is the first good idea anyone has
Matt meets a sickly Mike at a bar and offers him a bed for the night before a doctor's visit. Matt suspects that Mike is turning into a vampire. After Danny flies in through a window of Matt's house, he runs and tells Ben and Susan. They look at Mike's lifeless body with Dr Cody and Sheriff Gillespie, though Matt keeps what he saw to himself. That night Mike comes back as a vampire, and Matt holds him off with a cross. Danny wakes Mark and tries to get him to invite him in, but Mark resists and also holds him off with a cross. Mark is a horror fan, and he looks up how to kill vampires. Danny's and Ralphie's mother is found dead of the same disease, and Mike's body is gone. Cody then finds Matt hurt, and he explains the whole vampire situation to her, Ben and Susan, including how to fight it.
Dr Cody is her own pharmacist
Mark and Matt sneak into the Marsten House planning to kill Barlow, but Straker locks them in the basement. Barlow bites Matt, and Straker captures Mark. Meanwhile Ben, Susan and Dr Cody examine the body of Danny's mother at the morgue. This is the scene people dread, and it happens in the middle of the story: the body gets up and bites Dr Cody, and a cross is used to destroy it. Cody keeps herself from turning by giving herself a rabies shot. Barlow's vampires start turning the town's residents. The next day Mark frees himself, kills Straker and runs from the house. Ben, Susan and Cody ask Father Callahan for advice at the church. Mark arrives and tells them what he saw. They investigate the property, where Matt, now a vampire, attacks them in the basement, and Ben stakes him. The town is soon taken over. Susan's mother admits that she has replaced Straker as Barlow's human servant, and a vampire bites Susan at home.
The church is the one building the vampires respect
Father Callahan tries to warn Mark's parents, but Barlow ambushes and kills them. Mark hides in his treehouse from classmates who are now vampires. Ben takes Susan, who is turning, to the church, which is holy ground. Cody cannot cure her, and Susan fully turns and runs. Ben chases her and is attacked by the town's vampires before returning to the church. Sheriff Gillespie's corpse is thrown into the church. Mark goes looking for Barlow, breaks into Straker's antique store and kills Danny. Ben and Cody find him there, and the three work out that the vampires are sleeping in cars at the local drive-in. They find dozens of cars parked at the drive-in.
The ending, explained
At the drive-in, Ben finds Susan sleeping inside the trunk of a parked car. As Dr Cody gets ready to kill Susan, Susan's mother shoots Cody dead. As the sun begins to set, the vampires wake up and go after Ben, keeping out of the direct light. Mark drives Ben's car into Susan's mother, then knocks down the supports of the cinema screen, which lets the sun hit the vampires and destroys all of them. When it goes down, Barlow climbs out of his coffin and attacks Mark while Susan attacks Ben. Ben kills Susan, saves Mark and stakes Barlow. Nobody else in town is left, so Ben and Mark drive away.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: no dog, and no other animals either.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Salem's Lot scary?
Somewhat. Salem's Lot is a 4.5 out of 10 with low dread: a vampire story with some jump scares and a high body count, and not much of it stays with you afterward.
How does Salem's Lot end?
Mark destroys the vampires sleeping at the drive-in by knocking down the movie screen so the sun reaches them. Ben stakes Barlow after killing Susan, and Ben and Mark drive out of the empty town.
Does the dog die in Salem's Lot?
There's no dog in Salem's Lot, and no other animals either.
Is there a post-credits scene in Salem's Lot?
No. Salem's Lot has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
How do you kill the vampires in Salem's Lot?
A cross holds them off and a wooden stake kills them, as Ben does to Barlow. Sunlight destroys them too, which is how Mark finishes off the ones sleeping at the drive-in.
