Ronee Blakley

A man and his son vacation to the quiet vampire populated town of Salem's Lot. Joe Weber is an anthropologist who takes his son on a trip to the New England town of Salem's Lot unaware that it is populated by vampires. When the inhabitants reveal their secret, they ask Joe to write a bible for them. —Patrick D. Rockwell <prockwell@thegrid.net> Reluctantly, the amoral anthropologist, Joe Weber, leaves the vast and dangerous Peruvian jungles, to return to the United States and take care of his rebellious teenage son, Jeremy. As the estranged father and son embark on a bonding trip to Joe's hometown of Salem's Lot, Maine, to visit Aunt Clara's decrepit house, right from the start, strange occurrences are a dead giveaway that something evil has gotten hold of the town. Now, fresh, bright-red blood stains the seemingly peaceful community, and there's no telling what Joe and, especially, Jeremy, have gotten themselves into. Indeed, a return to Salem's Lot was a poor decision. Is there an escape from the town of terror? —Nick Riganas An anthropologist along with his son returns to Salem's Lot, the town of his birth but is shocked to find that the town has been taken over by vampires who sleeps by the day while their human servants take care of the town during the day. The vampires persuade the anthropologist to write a book on the history of vampires from the vampire's perspective showing how vampires can coexist with humans without shedding blood. The vampires r hell bent that the anthropologist write their history cos of his credibility. —Fella_shibby@yahoo.com

The film opens with a bizarre sequence where we see an unidentified individual, visible only by his hands, creating a strange weapon: a glove with sharp knives for fingers. Tina, a young girl in a nightgown, is rushing down ominous alleyways filled with steam and shadows. Suddenly the bizarre man lunges at her, brandishing the glove. Tina screams and sits bolt upright in her bed; the entire episode was a nightmare. Tina's mother comes into her bedroom, alerted by her scream, and notices that Tina's nightgown is slashed near her stomach. The cuts are similar to what would be made with the glove from the dream. Tina meets her friends at school the next morning: her boyfriend Rod, her best friend Nancy, and Nancy's boyfriend, Glen. Nancy and Tina discover that they have both had the same nightmare, and although Glen and Rod try and hide the fact, they seem to have been having nightmares, too. That night, Nancy and Glen decide to stay with Tina, because her mother has gone out of town. Rod shows up later and frightens the three of them by making strange sounds in the back yard and then jumping out at Glen. Rod and Tina go upstairs into a bedroom to have sex, while Nancy and Glen sleep separately downstairs; Nancy resists the idea of fooling around, since she and Glen are supposedly there as moral support for Tina. As all of them fall asleep, strange things begin to occur. The wall over Nancy's bed seems to lose its solid form, and the shape of a human figure looking at her seems to lean out of it. Nancy does not see it, her eyes closed in half-sleep, and when she awakens, the form disappears. In the room where Tina and Rod are sleeping, Tina is awakened by noises at the window; someone is in the back yard hurling small rocks at the glass. Tina knows this is whoever has been trying to frighten her, and she goes downstairs to confront whoever it is. When she ventures out into the back yard, a phantom voice lures her into the alley, the same as in her dream. She is startled by strange things such as a goat suddenly lurching into the alley, and then finally her stalker emerges, a man in a fedora, a dirty red and green striped sweater, and the deadly glove with knives for fingers. He taunts Tina by laughing at her and whispering her name, and he walks towards her with his arms stretching further than humanly possible, spanning the entire alley, blocking her escape. Tina retreats into her back yard and the figure leaps out again, this time from behind a tree. He slices off his own fingers and strangely colored blood spurts out. Tina tries to make it into her back door, but the man grabs her, and she struggles with him. We see Tina in bed next to Rod, trashing around; she has been dreaming this incident, as well, only the man seems to actually be under the covers with her. Rod awakens and pulls off the sheet. He can only see Tina, but she is being manipulated by some unseen force. Her stomach is slashed open, four wounds appearing all at the same time, obviously from the glove. Tina is dragged screaming up the wall, over the ceiling, and falls down dead into the bed, which is now covered in her blood. Nancy and Glen have now awakened and burst into the room to find Rod gone, apparently through the window. Tina is dead. At the police station, Nancy is giving her account of what happened and she talks to Lt. Donald Thompson, who also happens to be her father. Nancy's mother, Marge, and Lt. Thompson are apparently divorced, and they greet each other with restrained hostility. Rod is the obvious suspect in the murder, but Nancy feels that this is not the case; although Rod has a reputation as a delinquent, Nancy knows he is not a killer. As Nancy walks to school the next morning, Rod appears and pulls her into some bushes. Rod swears to Nancy that he did not kill Tina, but before they can talk any further, Lt. Thompson appears with his men and arrests Rod. Nancy is offended that her father used her to capture Rod, and she storms off. At school, the exhausted Nancy falls asleep in English class, and she thinks she sees Tina standing outside the classroom door. Tina speaks to her from a bloody body bag, and Nancy sees the bag dragged away by some unseen hand. She drifts out of the classroom and follows the bloody trail down into the basement. On the way, she is confronted by a female hall monitor, who scolds her for not having a pass. Leaving the girl behind, Nancy turns around when she speaks to Nancy in a man's voice, brandishing the weird knife-glove and cackling at her. Nancy goes down into the basement and is confronted by the killer, who is dressed in the same sweater and hat. His skin is horribly scarred, burned almost beyond recognition. He traps Nancy in the boiler room and backs her against the wall, taunting her. "Come to Freddy!" he says, but just before he can slash her with the glove, Nancy burns her arm on a hot pipe. The burn wakes her up, and she disrupts her English class by screaming and jumping out of her chair. Even though she is now awake, she has a large burn mark on her arm. Embarassed and frightened, she leaves school for the day. She visits Rod in prison and confirms her fears: Rod is having the same nightmare, haunted by the same figure with the glove. She tells Rod that she knows he didn't kill Tina, and leaves. Nancy has another incident where she is threatened by "Freddy"; she falls asleep in the bathtub and she is pulled underwater, dragged into some kind of abyss underneath. She manages to swim back up to the opening of her bathtub and pulls herself to safety. Marge, hearing Nancy's screaming, bursts into the bathroom, but Nancy tries to pretend she simply fell. Marge sends Nancy to bed, but Nancy is now afraid to sleep. She drinks coffee constantly and has a fresh pot hidden in her room, just in case. Nancy enlists Glen's help in an experiment. It appears as if she asks Glen to follow her, but she is in her nightclothes, so we presume she is dreaming. Nancy goes to the jail where Rod is being held, and by peering in the window she can see his cell. Rod is asleep, and she can see the killer approaching him, walking right through the bars of Rod's cell. Nancy yells for Glen but he is no longer there; instead, the voice of the killer answers "I'm here, Nancy!" and he lunges at her, chasing her back to her house. She runs inside and finds she cannot escape because her stairs have suddenly turned into a sticky mess. The killer smashes the window on the front door and peers inside as Nancy struggles to get away; he is wearing Tina's face as a mask, and imitating her voice, he says "Nancy, help me, please! Save me from Freddy!" Nancy wakes up, and she is furious to find Glen asleep next to her bed, as she had asked him to keep watch and wake her if it looked like she was having a nightmare. Nancy and Glen hurry over to the jail to see Rod, as Nancy is convinced the killer is going to strike. Sure enough, before they can intervene, Rod's nightmare becomes real and an unseen hand twists his bedsheets around his neck, stringing him up in his cell and breaking his neck. Lt. Thompson is skeptical of Nancy's claims that they are being haunted in their dreams, as it appears Rod simply hung himself. Both Marge and Lt. Thompson seem to share an unspoken realization about Nancy's allegations, but they will not admit anything to Nancy. Instead, Marge takes Nancy to a sleep clinic where they monitor her body as she sleeps. Her nightmare sends the instruments haywire because of its intensity, and when they wake Nancy up, she has a sudden gray streak in her hair from terror. There is another shock for all of them: Nancy is inexplicably holding the killer's Fedora. She says she was holding onto it when she woke up. Nancy's mother continues to deny that anything strange is going on, and she insists that Nancy get some sleep. Instead Nancy produces the Fedora and points out that it has a name written inside: Fred Krueger. Marge denies knowing who that is, and Nancy reacts angrily. Nancy has a conversation with Glen where Glen tells her that certain zen masters could control their dreams. Nancy asks what they would do if they met a monster in their dreams, and Glen says they would turn their back on it. If you take away a nightmare's energy, it disappears. Glen is surprised that Nancy believes she will die because of a nightmare, and also that she is reading books on creating booby traps and survival techniques. Nancy's mother finally opens up to her and tells her the truth. Taking Nancy down into their own basement, Marge tells her about Fred Krueger, who was a murderer that preyed on young children. When Krueger was apprehended, a technicality (being an improperly signed search warrant) caused the evidence against him to be inadmissable, and he was not convicted and was hence, released from prison. As a result, she and Nancy's father, along with other parents in the neighborhood, murdered Krueger on their own by setting him on fire. Marge reaches into the furnace and removes a dirty bundle; unwrapping it, she produces Freddy's glove, which she took the night they murdered him. Nancy realizes that Freddy is out for revenge, somehow reaching from beyond the grave to murder them in their dreams. Nancy tries to warn Glen but his parents will not allow her to talk to him. She receives a taunting phone call from Kreuger, even after she rips the phone out of the wall, and she realizes that Glen is about to die. Nancy can't rescue him because her mother has placed metal bars on all the windows and doors. Glen falls asleep and is killed by Freddy, being sucked into his bed and apparently shredded until nothing is left but gore, which erupts into a horrible fountain all over his bedroom. Nancy realizes she is now alone and must face Freddy or die. Calling her father, she tells him that she is going to go and get Freddy and bring him out of her dream, and she wants her father to be there to arrest Freddy when she does. Lt. Thompson doesn't believe her, but he patronizes her so that she will go to sleep. Nancy sets up a number of booby traps in the house for Freddy in order to give herself an advantage after she 'captures' him. After saying goodnight to her mother, who is now completely drunk, Nancy falls asleep and goes down into her basement. There she finds a door that was never really there before, and it leads down a long staircase into another basement. She continues to climb further and further downwards, following ladders and stairwells, until she is in Freddy's boiler room. Freddy is nowhere to be found, and time is running out before Nancy's alarm goes off and wakes her up. Finally he attacks her and she struggles with him; her nightmare suddenly shifts and they are outside of her house. Nancy's scheme succeeds, and she brings Freddy into the real world, holding onto him as her alarm goes off. The booby traps she has rigged for Freddy help her get an edge on him, but she is unable to get the attention of her father; the cop he has posted to watch Nancy's house seems to be unable to understand that Nancy needs help. Freddy chases Nancy through her house and down into her basement, where she sets him on fire. Lt. Thompson breaks into the house, but he and Nancy are shocked to see fiery footprints leading out of the basement. They follow the trail upstairs and find Freddy struggling with Marge in her bed. When they pull back the bedclothes, Freddy is gone. Marge is nothing but a charred corpse, and the body disappears into the bed. The supernatural manifestation shocks Lt. Thompson, but Nancy seems resolute. She asks to be alone for a moment and when Lt. Thompson leaves, Freddy appears, rising up out of the bed. Nancy turns her back on him this time, remembering what Glen told her. She curses Freddy, telling him "You're nothing. You're shit." He lunges at her, but her lack of fear renders him powerless, and he vanishes into thin air. Nancy leaves the bedroom and suddenly finds herself outside, dressed for school. Marge stands on the porch and sees Nancy off to school in a loving way, telling Nancy that she is going to quit drinking. Glen, Rod, and Tina pull up in Glen's car to take Nancy to school. When Nancy gets in, the convertible roof suddenly slams shut over their heads; the roof is red and green, like Freddy's sweater. The windows go up and the car drives off, with all four of them trapped inside. Marge seems oblivious, waving goodbye to the kids, when suddenly Freddy's arm smashes outwards through the small window in the front door. In a bizarre movement, Marge's entire body is pulled through the tiny window, and she is gone.

The overarching plot takes place over five days leading up to a political rally for Replacement Party candidate Hal Phillip Walker, who is never seen throughout the entire movie. The story follows 24 characters roaming around Nashville, in search of some sort of goal through their own (often overlapping) story arcs. Day One The film opens with a campaign van for presidential candidate Hal Phillip Walker driving around Nashville as an external loudspeaker blares Walker's folksy political aphorisms and vaguely anti-establishment populism. This is juxtaposed with country superstar Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) recording an overblown patriotic song ("200 Years") intended to commemorate the upcoming Bicentennial, and growing irritated with the accompanying musicians in the studio. A young Englishwoman named Opal (Geraldine Chaplin), who claims to be working on a radio documentary for the BBC, appears in the studio but is told to leave by Haven. Down the hall from Haven's session is Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin), a white gospel singer recording a song with a black choir. Later that day, the beloved country singer Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley) is returning to Nashville, having recovered from a burn accident, and the elite of Nashville's music scene, including Haven Hamilton and his companion Lady Pearl (Barbara Baxley), have converged on Berry Field to greet her plane as it arrives. Also present are Pfc. Glenn Kelly (Scott Glenn) and the folk/rock trio "Bill, Mary, and Tom" whose catchy hit song "It Don't Worry Me" seems to be on everybody's lips. They are in town to record their second album. Bill (Allan F. Nicholls) and Mary (Cristina Raines) are married, but largely unhappy, partly due to the fact that Mary is in love with womanizing Tom (Keith Carradine). Meanwhile, Mr. Green (Keenan Wynn) arrives at the airport to pick up his niece, Martha (Shelley Duvall), who has renamed herself "L.A. Joan", a teenage groupie who has come to Nashville ostensibly to visit her aunt Esther Green who is sick in the hospital. However, Martha repeatedly puts off visiting her aunt in favor of chasing after musicians or pretty much any male she comes across, including the oddball motorcyclist known as "Tricycle Man," (Jeff Goldblum). Working at the airport restaurant are African-American cook Wade Cooley (Robert DoQui), and his pretty waitress friend, Sueleen Gay (Gwen Welles), an aspiring country singer who refuses to recognize that she can't carry a tune. After greeting the crowds on the tarmac, Barbara Jean faints due to the heat, and her handlers, headed by her domineering husband-manager Barnett (Allen Garfield), rush her to the hospital. Barbara Jean's appearance having been cut short, those in attendance depart the airport in a rush, and wind up stranded on the highway after a pile-up occurs. During the commotion, Winifred (Barbara Harris), an aspiring country singer who has chosen the stage name "Albuquerque," runs away from her husband, Star (Bert Remsen), after he refuses to take her to the Grand Ole Opry. Star gives a ride to Kenny Frasier (David Hayward), a nondescript, bespectacled young man who has just arrived in town carrying a violin case. Opal takes advantage of the traffic jam to interview first Linnea and then Tommy Brown (Timothy Brown), an African-American country singer who is performing at the Opry. Tommy and his entourage later go to Lady Pearl's nightclub, but Wade, who is drinking and trying to pick up white girls at the bar, insults Tommy for acting too "white" and starts a fight. Linnea's husband, Del Reese (Ned Beatty) is working with political organizer John Triplette (Michael Murphy) to plan a small fundraiser and a large outdoor concert gala for the Walker campaign. Sueleen appears at a local club's open mike night in a provocative outfit, and despite her lack of singing ability, club manager Trout (Merle Kilgore) recommends her to Triplette for the fundraiser based on her appearance. Winifred shows up at Trout's club trying to recruit musicians to record a demo with her, but Star sees her and chases her out. Del invites Triplette for a family dinner with Linnea and their two deaf children. Linnea and Del are having communications problems and she focuses on the children rather than on him. In the middle of dinner, Tom calls trying to make a date with Linnea, but she puts him off, so he takes Opal back to his room instead. Pfc. Kelly sneaks into Barbara Jean's hospital room and sits in the chair by her bed all night, watching her sleep. Day Two Tom calls Linnea again but, with Del listening on the other line, Linnea yells at Tom and tells him not to call her any more. Kenny rents a room from Mr. Green. Haven Hamilton throws a pre-show party at his house before the evening's Grand Ole Opry performance. At the party, Opal talks to Haven's son Bud (Dave Peel) who tells her, unconvincingly, that he is happy to act as his father's business manager and has no musical ambitions of his own. Under Opal's prodding, Bud starts to sing her a song he wrote, a tender love ballad, but Opal departs in a rush when she spots a movie star among the guests. Lady Pearl talks about her love for John and Bobby Kennedy, the only politicians she ever admired. Triplette tries to persuade Haven to perform at the Walker gala by telling him that if Walker is elected, Walker would back Haven for Governor of Tennessee. Haven says he'll give Triplette his decision after the Opry show that night. At Opryland USA, the Grand Ole Opry broadcast begins with Tommy Brown ("Bluebird") and Haven Hamilton ("For the Sake of the Children", "Keep a-Goin"). Haven then introduces Connie White (Karen Black) as a substitute for the hospitalized Barbara Jean. Connie sings "Memphis" and "I Don't Know If I Found It in You" while Barbara Jean and Barnett listen morosely on the radio in her hospital room. Winifred tries unsuccessfully to get backstage. Barbara Jean and Barnett have an argument because he is going to the after-show gathering to thank Connie for substituting at the last minute. Barbara Jean doesn't want him to go, and he suggests in an accusatory tone that she may be headed for another nervous breakdown. Barnett finally calms down Barbara Jean and goes to the after-party at a nightclub, but Connie doesn't seem happy to see him. Connie takes the stage ("Rolling Stone") but the disgruntled Barnett criticizes her performance. Lady Pearl regales Opal with stories about the Kennedy brothers, rendering Opal for once speechless. Haven tells Triplette that Barbara Jean and Connie never appear on the same stage, and that he (Haven) will appear anyplace Barbara Jean also appears. Bill gets upset when his wife Mary doesn't show up all evening, and he confesses to chauffeur Norman (David Arkin), that he suspects her of having an affair. Mary, in bed with Tom, keeps whispering "I Love You," but Tom doesn't respond. Day Three It is Sunday morning and the characters are shown attending various local church services. A Roman Catholic service includes Lady Pearl, Wade and Sueleen; Haven Hamilton sings in the choir at a Protestant service; and Linnea is seen in the choir at a black Protestant church as a baptism is taking place, with Tommy Brown in the pews. At the hospital chapel, Barbara Jean sings a hymn from her wheelchair while Mr. Green and Pfc. Kelly, among others, watch. Mr. Green tells Kelly how he and his wife lost their son in WWII. Opal wanders alone through a huge auto scrap yard making free-form poetic speeches about the cars into her tape recorder. Haven, Tommy Brown and their families attend the stock car races, where Winifred attempts to sing on a small stage but cannot be heard over the cars. Bill and Mary argue in their hotel room and are interrupted by Triplette, who wants to recruit them for the Walker concert gala. Tom tries to get Norman to score him some pills. Day Four Opal walks alone through a large school bus parking lot trying to spin a commentary linking the buses to racism in the South, but has trouble hitting the right note. Barbara Jean is discharged from the hospital at the same time Mr. Green shows up to visit his sick wife. Barbara Jean asks after Mrs. Green and sends her regards. After Barbara Jean and her entourage have left, a nurse tells Mr. Green his wife died earlier that morning. Pfc. Kelly tells Mr. Green why he has been following Barbara Jean around; his mother saved Barbara Jean's life in the fire and loved her more than anything. She asked her son to go see Barbara Jean on his leave from Vietnam service. Back at Mr. Green's house, Kenny gets upset when Martha tries to look at his violin case. Barbara Jean performs a matinee at Opryland USA. Triplette and Del attend and try to convince Barnett to have Barbara Jean play the Walker concert gala at the Parthenon the next day, but he refuses. Kenny and Pfc. Kelly are both in the audience and watch raptly as Barbara Jean sings, although Opal annoyingly tries to interview Kelly about Vietnam during a song. Barbara Jean gets through the first couple of songs ("Tapedeck in his Tractor", "Dues") all right, but then begins to tell rambling stories about her childhood instead of starting the next song. After several false starts, Barnett escorts her from the stage and tells the disappointed audience that they can come to the Parthenon tomorrow and see Barbara Jean perform for free, thus committing her to the Walker concert. Tom calls Linnea and invites her to meet him that night at a club called the Exit Inn. Linnea arrives but sits by herself because Martha is trying to pick up Tom. Mary and Bill are also there, and Opal sits with them and mentions that she slept with Tom, causing Mary to look away in humiliation. Wade tries unsuccessfully to pick up Linnea, while Norman tries equally unsuccessfully to pick up Opal. Tom is introduced as a surprise guest artist. He casually mentions that he "used to be in a trio," but then invites Bill and Mary up to the stage, where the three perform an uncomfortable rendition of "Since You're Gone". Again alone on the stage, Tom introduces his new solo number, "I'm Easy," which he dedicates to someone special in the audience. Mary, Opal, and Martha all hope that they are the one, but Tom only has eyes for Linnea. She goes to his room where they make love. When Linnea says she has to go, Tom begs her to stay another hour, and is visibly miffed when she refuses. Without even waiting for her to get dressed and leave, Tom grabs the phone and calls a girlfriend in New York, inviting her to fly down and join him. Sueleen appears at the all-male Walker fundraiser, but is booed off the stage when she sings poorly and doesn't take off her clothes. Del and Triplette explain to her that the men expect her to strip and that if she does so, they will let her sing the next day at the Parthenon with Barbara Jean. Sueleen is humiliated, but strips anyway. Winifred shows up at the fundraiser hoping to get a chance to sing, but after she sees what is going on, she stays hidden behind a curtain. Del drives Sueleen home and drunkenly comes on to her, but she is rescued by Wade. After he hears what happened, Wade tells Sueleen the truth, that she can't sing, and asks her to go back to Detroit with him the next day. Sueleen refuses because she is determined to sing at the Parthenon with Barbara Jean. Day Five The performers, audience and Walker and his entourage arrive for the Parthenon concert; Walker will wait in his limousine until his speech after the musical performances. In the performing lineup are Haven, Barbara Jean, Linnea and her choir, Bill, Mary and Tom, and Sueleen. Winifred has shown up again hoping for a chance to sing. Barnett gets upset because Barbara Jean will have to perform in front of a large Walker advertisement, but has to go along with it because his wife's career will be harmed if he pulls her out of another show. Mr. Green and Kenny attend Esther Green's burial service and Mr. Green leaves angrily, vowing to find Martha (who is not at the service) and make her show some respect to her aunt. Mr. Green and Kenny go to the Parthenon to look for Martha. The Walker gala starts and Haven and Barbara Jean perform a song together ("One, I Love You"), then Barbara Jean sings a very personal solo song about her childhood ("My Idaho Home"). As the song ends, gunshots are heard. Kenny has pulled a gun from his violin case and fired at the performers, grazing Haven and seriously wounding Barbara Jean. Pfc. Kelly disarms Kenny as chaos breaks out. Barbara Jean is carried bleeding and unconscious from the stage. Haven tries to calm the crowd by exhorting them to sing, asserting that "This isn't Dallas, this is Nashville" in reference to the JFK assassination. As he is led from the stage for treatment of his wounds, Haven hands the microphone off to Winifred, who tentatively begins to sing "It Don't Worry Me." As she is joined by Linnea's gospel choir, Winifred's confidence grows until all eyes are upon her. The film ends with the audience clapping and dancing as Winifred belts out the chorus, "You may say that I'm not free, but it don't worry me." She has finally gotten her big break.