The original Salem's Lot with David Soul and James Mason was a staple of my childhood. It still scares me senseless and although a little dated is a masterpiece as far as TV Movies go. The depiction of The Master borrows heavily from Nosferatu and is terrifying. To put this laughable sequel into context, The Master in A Return To Salem's Lot borrows heavily from The Muppet Show.Everything about this sequel is cheap and nasty. The acting is diabolical, it's not even Hallmark quality. The story is mildly interesting but proceeds at such a ridiculously fast pace it's bewildering. For example, an old Nazi Hunter (yes, really) turns up in town, has one conversation about the town with the hero of the movie and suddenly turns into Van Helsing, believing without question that vampires exist even though he has zero experience of any or hasn't even seen any and goes about destroying as many as he can with a bunch of homemade stakes.This is the biggest flaw of the movie, there's no investment in characterisation, everything happens at lightning speed because the story demands it and to hell with any rhyme or reason. The characters are so one dimensional they may as well be cardboard cut outs. Even The Master is so poorly written and realised he's basically just an elderly gent in a black suit with absolutely no menace, and when he finally reveals his true face at the movies climax it's hilarious, because he just becomes an elderly gent in a black suit with a Sesame Street mask on.I rated it 3 stars because to be fair in some parts it's downright hilarious, but sadly for all the wrong reasons.

I actually feel embarrassed for Michael Moriarty. He has never had the really good roles he deserves. And he did not deserve this. It is obvious that the studio wanted to exploit the popular "Salem's Lot" without "shoveling" out the cash to do a decent job. This film cannot even in good conscience be called a sequel. There was nothing left of the town at the end of the last film, and suddenly all new characters are coming home to a place that isn't even supposed to exist. I really felt as if my intelligence was being insulted, by this truly poor representation of the subject. If you are renting the film OK, you just wasted a couple of bucks, no big deal. But if you bought it, you've just been bitten big time. This movie deserves an early grave.

My Take: One of the worst movies I have ever seen in a life. Definitely the worst horror movie I have ever seen. I bought this movie because I'm a horror movie buff, and it had a good cover art, but that's just a perfect example of the phrase "never judge the book by its cover.", and "Return to Salem's Lot" was, not just truly horrible, but also a is a real joke of a horror movie. The acting is weak, the script is pale, the make-up lacks realism and the scares aren't even scary. Doesn't that sound like a joke? Michael Moriarty is like the father figure in the movie who takes his son back to his hometown, the vampire-infested Salem's Lot. His acting was way too over-the-top... and just plain ridiculous. Andrew Duggan as a lead vampire is weak, and poor Samuel Fuller, reduced to a silly role of a Nazi hunter. And much worse, as if the bad acting wasn't enough, the script never fared better.Silly horror move, I wouldn't even recommend it to a camp buffs. That's how awful it is. Rating: 0 out of 5.

Father and son take a trip to Salem's Lot, Maine where they discover that the locals are all vampires - who want the two travelers to write a bible for them.This disappointing theatrical sequel to the excellent 1979 mini-series Salem's Lot has pretty much nothing to do with the original or the novel that it was based on. This film is shamefully flat on scares and the vampires aren't even remotely frightening. For the most part we just get old people running around with plastic fangs in their mouths. Story-wise we get little suspense to sustain the audience.Yet despite these obvious flaws our leading stars do OK performances and there's a fine music score.Even still, this doesn't save this sequel from being poor.* 1/2 out of ****