Salem’s Lot(1979)

With the whole town of ‘Salem’s Lot falling under the vampiric influence of Kurt Barlow (Reggie Nalder) and his “day watcher” Richard Straker (James Mason), Ben Mears (David Soul) and Dr. Bill Norton (Ed Flanders) sneak into the Marsten House and find Mark Petrie (Lance Kerwin) tied up in the basement.  Dr. Norton decides to search upstairs and runs into Straker, who impales Norton on a set of antlers hanging on the other side of the room.  As Straker makes his way down the stairs, Mears takes out a gun and shoots him dead.  Mears and Mark then frantically search in the cellar for Barlow’s coffin as the sun is going down.  They find it in a small crawlspace in the cellar and as they open the coffin, the sun goes down and Barlow awakens.  Mears grabs the stake and gradually pounds it into Barlow’s chest as he fights to try and get out of the coffin.  With Barlow dead, nothing happens to the other vampires, they awaken in the same crawlspace Barlow slept in.  Barricading the door shut, Mears and Mark pour gasoline around the house and burn it down. 

Fast forward two years.  Mears and Mark had fled to Guatemala as holy pilgrims.  When returning to their hut from the church, Mears finds Susan Norton (Bonnie Bedelia) waiting for him.  When she had mysteriously disappeared into the Marsten House before it burned down, Mears assumes that she is a vampire.  He cannot resist the feelings he had for her though and continues to walk towards her.  Just as she is about to bite him, Mark bursts in with a stake in hand, hands it to Ben, and he drives it into her chest.