 Director George A. Romero (I) (qv) was originally approached to  direct a feature film version, but after the announcements of  John Badham (qv)s _Dracula (1979)_ (qv) and  Werner Herzog (qv)s _Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)_ (qv),  Warner Bros. decided to turn Salems Lot into a TV mini