Tobe Hooper 1979- Surprisingly classical brand of horror from the director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I don’t like what they did with Barlowe and it could have used a stronger Ben Mears, but the supporting cast is good, especially James Mason as Straker. Some of the “scares” fall flat, but the vampires at the window and the Mike Ryerson scenes deliver some real chills. This isn’t great but it’s good, and I’d vote it the most faithful. It got a theatrical sequel with none of the same characters, where the vampires suck blood from cows instead of people? I haven’t seen it.

TNT 2004 version - This is another 3 hour miniseries. It’s 2004, ‘Salem’s Lot looks like a midwestern rustbelt town, all the characters are assholes! Also, the frame story is changed to something alot worse. So is Ben’s backstory. Donald Sutherland is a blast as Straker, some of the rest of the cast is good, but nearly all of the horror relies on the most goddawful early ’00s cliches. It completely collapses by the end. This might have the most individual elements from the original story, but it feels the least like the book. It isn’t good, but it’s an interesting 2004 time-capsule.

HOB Max 2024 version - Why was this both chopped to under 2 hours for the theaters, and then released directly to streaming without restoring the runtime? It jettisons all the subplots and side-characters and restructures the story so that there’s no mystery and no backstory, and it’s pretty rushed, soulless, and mechanical, but within those constraints it tries to be somewhat faithful to its source material (which sometimes opts for the Tobe Hooper version rather than the book) for the first 2/3. The last act…I haven’t checked TV Tropes for a “rewritten by Homer Simpson and Mel Gibson” page, but if there is one then this needs to be on it.
I guess Straker is the plumb role in this story. Here he just feels like he’s in a different movie.

I wasn’t bored by any of these, but only the first one is actually good or that has more than one effective moment of horror.

Also good is the 1995 BBC radio series. It’s done by the BBC, by everyone sounds American except for Mark, who sounds like a British kid trying to sound American. This is and more faithful than any of the filmed versions, and at 7 half-hour episodes it’s longer than than the two mini-series. I’m surprised they shelled out the money to be able to have radios in the background playing The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, and Metallica.