Ben Mears returns to his home town of Salem's Lot, a small place in Maine. He's there to write a book on th Marston House, the house that scared the hell out of him on childhood dare. The house, though, is already taken, by a man called Straker who is opening an antiques shop with a partner who has yet to arrive. Whilst the small stories of the town continue, a boy goes missing, a man is found dead and then the boy's brother dies in the hospital. Salem's Lot has become cursed.

A man and a boy pray in a small town in Guatemala. They fill up bottles with the holy water from the font, but get a shock when the water starts to glow. 'They' have caught up with the fugitives again. It's a brilliant opening and promises much for the two-part mini-series that is to follow it. Fortunately, the rest of the opening episode lives up to that promise.

When it comes to adapatations of the works of Stephen King, there are very few good ones, considering that he's the most successful storyteller the publishing world has ever known. This series will always be listed in the small number of classics alongside the likes of THE SHINING, CARRIE and MISERY. The opening half here is a slow burn build up of atmosphere and tension. Characters are introduced and we spend time with them in their unremarkable lives, allowing us to be familiar with them, to like them and so making what happens to them more effective. This is aided immensely by a strong cast and it's a measure of director Tobe Hooper's skill that he coaxes a convincing performance out of the headlining star David Soul (no really - he's good). James Mason is utterly evil without ever doing anything at all and Bonnie Bedelia is a welcome dash of normality as the love interest.

Despite being directed by Tobe Hooper of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE fame, this is an object lesson in how to create real horror without the need for gore. Never has an inanimate crate been so scary, a house brooded over a town so evilly or a sense of foreboding hung so low over a fictional community. It's done so slowly and subtly that you almost don't realise it's happening until one of the few shock moments causes you to leap out of your seat.

The slow burn starts to accelerate as the first victims are found. The scene in which Danny Glick is visited by his dead brother, floating outside the window, scratching on the glass, is a memorable classic, creepy to the point of terrifying and all through the simple trick of playing the scene backwards to give it an otherworldly feel.

It's a strong story, wonderfully told, but not one to be watched alone in the dark.

EPISODE 2