It may be hard to believe, but when Stephen King’s horror novel ’Salem’s Lot was published in 1975, stories of vampires in modern-day America were fairly unusual. Sure, the daytime drama Dark Shadows had aired on TV a few years before, but most people associated the word vampire with Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula, and its 1931 film adaptation starring Bela Lugosi; Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire wouldn’t appear until the following year, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight were still decades in the future. However, King’s tale of a small-town vampire invasion proved that there was a thriving audience for fang fiction: It was a huge bestseller that inspired two different TV miniseries, in 1979 and 2004. A lively new film adaptation is more streamlined than either of those—occasionally to a fault—but it also makes changes that vastly improve upon the source material. It premieres on Max on Oct. 3.

The novel is set in the fictional town of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine (nicknamed ’Salem’s Lot by residents), where moderately successful 30-something novelist Ben Mears spent part of his childhood. He returns in 1975 to research and write a novel, just as the mysterious Kurt Barlow and his business partner, Richard Straker, move into the creepy house on the edge of town with plans to open an antique store. Before long, a young local boy, Ralphie Glick, goes missing. His brother, Danny, and other townsfolk start contracting a strange, blood-related illness that initially appears to be fatal; the victims also have strange puncture wounds on their necks. One night, a pale, red-eyed Danny, covered with graveyard dirt, visits his classmate Mark Petrie and tries to attack him, only to be repelled by a plastic crucifix. Mark, along with several other people in town—including Ben and his new girlfriend, artist Susan Norton; teacher Matt Burke; physician Jimmy Cody; and Father Callahan, a Catholic priest—band together to try to stop vampires from taking over the town.

As might be expected from a Stephen King novel, ’Salem’s Lot has its share of chilling moments and visceral imagery, as when a vampire expires after having a stake hammered into their heart: “The mangled lips parted in a last, susurrating pulse of air.” King’s also not afraid to have fun with his premise, as when Ben creates a makeshift cross out of two tongue depressors and a piece of surgical tape. However, the book’s pacing is far too leisurely; only at the halfway point does the action really kick into gear. Most of the time, King lingers on major characters’ backgrounds and spends too much time with minor characters, who ruminate endlessly but have no real purpose. The ending, meanwhile, relies on incredibly useful—and previously unmentioned—supernatural qualities of holy water to get its heroes out of danger. It feels like a bit of a cheat.

The new movie, also set in the ’70s, cuts several unnecessary side players and whittles the main characters’ backstories down to the basics. Ben, played by the affable Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry), doesn’t linger on multiple traumas, as he does in the novel; he’s just a pleasant, perceptive writer who wants to help people in need. Susan, in the book, is a somewhat aimless character who’s little more than Ben’s love interest, but King still includes multiple, unnecessary scenes with her parents; in the movie, as played by the charming Makenzie Leigh, Susan is forthright, funny, and has a concrete plan for her life, and her mom (Debra Christofferson) plays a key role in the story. At times, one may wish that the characterization was a little less economical, if only so the excellent actors, including Bill Camp (as teacher Matt) and Alfre Woodard (as Dr. Cody), would get more screentime.

However, writer/director Gary Dauberman (who co-wrote It and It Chapter Two) knows what he’s doing. He’s transformed Salem’s Lot from a slow-paced monster movie into something more akin to an action flick, with thrills and chills galore—and nowhere is this more apparent than in the film’s climax, which takes place in an entirely new setting. No spoilers, but suffice it to say that this movie includes an extremely creative use of a drive-in movie theater—a bit of Americana that King himself might envy.

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.