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- NOTE: This article is about the version of Kurt Barlow from the mainstream continuity. You may be looking for information on his Tobe Hooper counterpart or his Gary Dauberman counterpart.
| “ | Whoever feeds you... is your god. | „ |
| ~ Kurt Barlow to Father Callahan. |
| “ | I am not a serpent, but the Father of Serpents | „ |
| ~ Kurt Barlow, on his notes. |
| “ | Look and see me, puny man. Look upon Barlow, who has passed the centuries as you have passed hours before a fireplace with a book. Look and see the great creature of the night whom you would slay with your miserable little stick. Look upon me, scribbler. I have written in human lives, and blood has been my ink. Look upon me and despair! | „ |
| ~ Kurt Barlow taunting Ben Mears as he's about to stake him. |
Kurt Barlow is the main antagonist of Stephen King's 1975 novel 'Salem's Lot, and its 2004 adaptation.
He is an ancient and highly intelligent vampire who seeks to turn the town of Jerusalem's Lot into his own personal vampire colony.
Portrayals[]
- In the 1995 BBC radio adaptation, he was voiced by Doug Bradley, who also played Pinhead in the Hellraiser film series, Vitiate from Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Joe Chill in Gotham Knights.
- In the 2004 miniseries adaptation, he was portrayed by the late Rutger Hauer, who also played Roy Batty in Blade Runner, Thomas Burns in Surviving the Game, Cardinal Roark in Sin City, John Ryder in The Hitcher, Lothos in Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts III, and Morgan Edge in Smallville.
Biography[]
Novel[]
Like all other Type One Vampires, Barlow was a lesser evil spirit created from the Prim, at some point, he, along with all the other races of his, manifested on Earth as evil, supernatural bloodsucking creatures known as Vampires. Unlike the rest of his kind, Barlow had the appearance, or possibly disguise, of a human taking up many names throughout the centuries. Before the events of the novel, Barlow's current alias before Barlow was Kurt Breichen and that he was an Austrian nobleman. As Breichen, Barlow corresponded for 20 years with Hubert "Hubie" Marsten, a Depression-era hitman living in Jerusalem's Lot, Maine.
Marsten murdered his wife and committed suicide, but not before burning his letters with Barlow. The novel strongly implies that Marsten entered into an agreement with Barlow that allowed him to eventually come to Jerusalem's Lot.
In 1975, Barlow arrives the town of Jerusalem's Lot in a box shipped overseas by his human assistant, Richard Straker. The two take residence in Marten's abandoned mansion. Barlow and Straker pose as antiques dealers and open a shop in the town; Straker tends to the shop and handles business arrangements while Barlow is seldom seen in public. Straker kidnaps a local boy, Ralphie Glick, and makes a human sacrifice of the child in an appeasement ritual. Ralphie's brother, Danny, becomes a vampire and begins to infect other locals-taking Dud Rogers and Corey Byrant as his first victims.
When the novel's protagonist, Mark Petrie, and Susan Norton sneak into the Marsten House to kill Barlow, Straker catches them and Barlow turns Susan. Mark manages to escape, but mortally wounds Straker as he does so. Straker is later killed by Barlow, who cannot resist drinking his blood from his wounds. Susan's lover, Ben Mears, is later forced to kill her as a result of Barlow turning her.
Father Callahan and Mark head over to Mark's parents' house to save them, but Barlow beats them to death and takes Mark hostage. Callahan pulls out his cross on Barlow, however Barlow challenges the man's faith and takes the cross off Callahan and destroys it before forcing Callahan to drink his blood. Callahan leaves 'Salem's Lot in shame.
Mark escapes and Barlow tries to hypnotize him into killing Ben before the latter can stake him by threatening to castrate him. However they end up succeeding in killing him. Ben Mears stakes Barlow in the heart, causing him to cry out in pain and anguish before dissolving slowly. By morning, Barlow was dead and nothing more than dust and ash, with his fangs being left behind, which briefly attacked the protagonists, before thrown into the wall and shattering.
2004 Miniseries[]
In this version, Barlow is heavily implied to be an evil spirit manifesting as a vampire through many different human forms throughout the centuries, his backstory is unknown. Eventually, the demon manifested as a vampire human named Kurt Briechen, who later changed his last name to Barlow. At some point, Barlow made a human named Richard Thomas Straker into servitude, and made a deal with a Satanist and serial killer named Hubie Marsten. Hubie made a deal with Barlow that he could come to Salem`s Lot. Years later, in the early 2000s, Barlow was shipped to 'Salem`s Lot in a box. The box was transported to the Marsten House.
There, Barlow dwelt, while in the day his servant Straker watches the house and goes on his daily business. One night, Barlow goes to the dump, where he meets a hunchback man named Dud Rodgers. Barlow promised Dud that he will grant him the ability to be more important than he ever was before, and infected him into a vampire. Eventually, Straker captured a woman named Susan Norton, and a teen named Mark Petrie. Mark managed to escape and beat up Starker. But before leaving the house, Mark went to check where Susan went, and heard her voice in the basement. Barlow's voice came and told Mark to come down, however, Mark rebukes him and escapes. Barlow eventually drained Straker of his blood for his failure, and killed him. It is unknown whether it was Barlow or the spirit of the Marsten House that hung Straker upside down from the ceiling.
Later, Barlow crashes into Mark's house, where Mark was meeting with his mother and the local church priest, Father Callahan. Barlow grabs and snaps Mrs. Petrie's neck, killing her, before proceeding to try to kill Mark. Callahan, however, challenges Barlow in a duel between their faiths. Barlow agrees and lets Mark go. Barlow challenges Callahan's faith, and tells him of all the wrongdoing he has done. This made Callahan lose the battle, and Barlow, using a glass shard, slits his hand open, and forced Callahan to drink his blood. This corrupted and twisted the church priests' mind, making him turn evil and becoming Barlow's new servant, to replace Straker.
Eventually, all of the town of 'Salem's Lot turned into vampires, and Ben Mears, the boyfriend of Susan Norton, seeks to destroy Barlow so that his reign of terror would end. Ben and Mark eventually reach Barlow, and open his coffin, which was located beneath Eva Miller's boarding house. Barlow hypnotizes Mark to kill Ben, but Ben knocks Mark out. Before Ben could stake Barlow, Barlow bribes Ben into giving him fame, money, power, if he spares him. Barlow tells Ben that he would always be flawed until he embraces evil. Barlow tells Ben that in reality, he is metaphorically the vampire. Ben tells Barlow that he isn't anymore, and stakes Barlow in the heart. Barlow cries out in pain and anguish, and constantly shape shifts into all of the human forms he has taken throughout the centuries. Barlow rapidly decays, until he was dust. Afterwards, Barlow was no more.
Appearance[]
In the original novel, Kurt Barlow initially appears as an old man with white hair, a white mustache and a thin, slender build with sunken cheekbones, wearing a black business suit with a blood red tie. Later in the novel, Barlow looks like what he does before, but he is middle-aged with black hair and a black mustache. His vampire form looks the same, except he has chalk white pale skin, red eyes, and black claws. At the end of the novel, Barlow looks like a healthy young man with lurid red cheeks.
In the 2004 miniseries adaptation, the vampire's current Barlow form looks like a middle-aged man with a beard spot on his chin, blond hair, and old time Austrian clothing. He has blue eyes in his human form, but has opaque eyes when he reveals his true nature as a vampire, with simples fangs. He progressively becomes younger as time goes on, like in the novel. In his final moments, as he gets staked by Ben Mears, Barlow rapidly and uncontrollably shape shifts into all of the previous human forms he has taken before over the centuries. Some of the previous forms Barlow had taken that were shown where that of a soldier in the old US Navy, a bald old man from the Renaissance period, a young knight from the Middle-Ages, and a young woman from the ancient Chinese culture.
Powers and Abilities[]
As explained in the Dark Tower series, Barlow is a "Type One" vampire, which are the rarest and most powerful types of vampires. Type Ones like Barlow have the ability to create "Type Two" vampires. He hypnotizes people with his eyes, and has great superhuman strength. He also has the power to damn someone, making them "unclean, by forcing them to feed on his blood. He has the ability to infect someone into a slave Vampire.
In the 2004 miniseries, Barlow has the same abilities as his novel counterpart, but has even more abilities. He can climb on walls like a spider, can ignite claws out of his hands, and can fly through a window during daytime. He is also implied to be some entity that is more than a vampire, as it is revealed that throughout the centuries, Barlow shapeshifts into different human vampire forms.
Gallery[]
2004 Mini-Series[]
Trivia[]
- In scenes cut from the book in earlier drafts, it is revealed that Barlow's original, real name is Sarlinov.
External links[]
- Kurt Barlow on the Pure Evil wiki
- Kurt Barlow on Wikipedia
- Kurt Barlow on the Stephen King Wiki
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