SALEM'S LOT (no spoilers)

Watching the new SALEM'S LOT on HBOMax, I was struck by its similarity to another recent -- and mediocre -- Stephen King adaptation, IT.  Both productions seemed focused more on the story's events than on the mood (creepy) they're meant to evoke.  Little surprise, then, to learn that IT's co-writer wrote and directed this.  What's particularly galling is that Tobe Hooper's '79 version (PG, no less) is a masterly blueprint to SL's darkest scares, and seems to have been ignored.  *This* outing, If I didn't know what *could've* been, I'd call minimally recommended.