Though not quite a slam-dunk — its sum impact is more pleasingly ingenious than indelible — Late Night With the Devil definitely reps a personal best for the Cairnses.
The cast makes Late Night With the Devil more than watchable, but they also raise our hopes for something better. While the talk-show approach makes perfect structural and narrative sense, it also drains the film of suspense, as we pretty much know where everything is going.
How far are you willing to go in realizing your ambitions? Would you be willing to make big sacrifices? Associate with shady beings? Sell your soul? Those are among the possibilities raised in the latest hair-raising smart horror/comedy from the writing-directing duo of Cameron and Colin Cairnes. This documentary-style offering presents the supposedly lost recording (complete with allegedly never-before-seen found footage) of a 1970s late night talk show hosted by comedian/TV personality Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) whose goal is to unseat Johnny Carson’s eminently popular Tonight Show as the premier after-hours choice of viewing. Delroy’s Night Owls broadcast is modestly successful, but it never manages to win the late night ratings race, so he desperately looks for ways to nudge his program over the top. When he decides to host a Halloween show with an array of occult/paranormal guests – capitalizing on a growing trend at the time – he believes he’s hit on the formula to achieve his goal. But, as the show progresses, he finds himself in over his head as events begin to spiral out of control. Viewers both on and off the screen are kept in suspense with a well-integrated blend of humor, high camp and unexpectedly spooky moments involving a hammy, self-righteous psychic medium (Fayssal Bazzi), an egomanical magician-turned-debunker (Ian Bliss), and an escaped teenage cult member (Ingrid Torelli) and her psychologist caregiver/surrogate parent (Laura Gordon). As things deteriorate, Jack tries to hold the show together with the aid of his producer (Josh Quong Tart) and flunky sidekick (Rhys Auteri). But, as the stakes are continually upped, that task grows ever more difficult, especially when supernatural influences begin to assert themselves in the studio, threatening both the broadcast and the fulfillment of the host’s long-cherished dream. Although occasional pacing issues, a periodically disjointed narrative and a somewhat overblown final act can get in the way of the smoothness of the story flow, these shortcomings are made up for by the film’s superb period piece production design, its clever writing and its fine performances, most notably that of the protagonist. And, in the end, it’s all served up with lots of laughs and a tidy moral of the story. Admittedly, “Late Night with the Devil” probably would have worked better as a Halloween release than a piece of springtime movie fare, but that doesn’t lessen the entertainment value of this inspired production, one thar shows horror flicks can indeed do more than just see how high it can make the final body count.
Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) a late night talk show host for “Night Owls” on the cusp of falling down the rankings and desperate to revive his dwindling career puts on a unique, albeit unorthodox Halloween Special that no one will ever forget.
Jack Delroy’s guests consist of psychic Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), skeptic and former magician Carmichael the Conjurer (Ian Bliss), parapsychologist author June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) and June’s subject, Lilly (Ingrid Torelli). June’s book “Conversations with the Devil” and a live demonic demonstration with Lilly promises to be the highlight of the show and hopefully provide the ratings that Delroy so desperately craves. So now on Halloween night, the platform is perfectly planned for Delroy to play on people’s fears and have a night full of scares. Soon after the programme begins, a couple of events in the show appear to go awry but with the viewers increasing the show must definitely go on. Anything for the much needed ratings. Things eventually escalate, despite the crew becoming more uncomfortable with the strange occurrences as the night progresses. By the time we reach the highly anticipated live conversation with the demon, things take a very dark turn and will leave the studio audience and viewers at home traumatised. It’s an original take on the possession movies that let’s be honest, has been done to death and Late Night with the Devil is a breath of fresh air.
Here’s a horror that will effortlessly transport you straight back to the 1970s as we witness the broadcast along with behind the scenes footage from the commercial breaks. The production design was on point for absolutely everything. It captures the public hysteria around satanic cults and demonic activity that took hold in the 70s, this along with the sets, costumes, script and tone will make you feel like you’re right there in the middle of it all. Dastmalchian brilliantly emulates a 1970s talk show host, slick, charming and sleazy. With some genuine scares, great pacing and lots of tension, Late Night with the Devil is sure to delight many horror fans.
All the attention to detail is perfect in immersing you into this time period and speaking of attention to detail, eagle eyed viewers have spotted the AI generated art that appears in the backdrop and various cutaways. I’m aware it’s created some boycotting, and while I don’t agree with boycotting an indie movie over three images, this is a dangerous stepping stone for what is to come. It starts with something small like this and progresses to much more. Creativity should be left in the more than capable hands of humans and AI can keep well away from the arts where it belongs. So look I understand why people are angry about this and rightly so but it’s an independent movie with a lot of work that went into it and deserves to be seen despite the clearly poorly judged inclusion of some artwork that could have easily gone to a person instead.
Horror fans, Late Night with the Devil was made for us, it’s witty, dark, weird, and spooky with great performances and a chance to see David Dastmalchian in a leading role. All those quirky parts have led up to this moment and he knocked it out of the park. I loved it, highly recommended for horror movie fans. Not every cinema is showing this so be sure to see it before it’s gone.
Production design = 10/10. The set, the clothing, hairstyles, the film print used, colour grading, the practical effects, etc all if it really transports the viewer to the 70s. The film was made to look to the viewer as an episode of Night Owl (the name of the in-universe show), and it absolutely achieved this. The change in aspect ratio again adds to this effect.
The acting = 8/10. Wonderful job by everyone. They knew when to ham it up, when to get scared, when to become more subtle. They did the best they could with their characters but the problem was the characters lacked arcs except for the protagonist, and to a much lesser extent, the skeptic (he doesn't believe in the supernatural, what do you think his position will be by the end of the film).
Story = 3/10. Really lame story that has does very little with the lore. A shame because it was quite intriguing in its first half. It's a non-story. First act is good, second act is great, but then the third act derails the film, and causes the film to fizzle out.
Special effects = 5/10. Practical effects were nice but the CGI effects were quite noticeable, and looked very cheap.
Soundtrack =5/10. Just fine, nothing special at all.
Horror/fear factor = 1/10. This is highly subjective but I found nothing scary here whatsoever. Be it with the in-your-face horror, or attempts at trying to get under the viewer's skin. The attempts to frighten failed to land for me. It's nothing even a casual fan of horror has not come across before. Horror-themed TV specials of cartoons have been more frightening.
Ultimately the film offers very few thrills, it does little with a fantastic set up, and is held up only by the excellent acting, and a stellar production design. One more thing, I have now noticed the demon mentioned in this has been mentioned in a number of Hollywood horror films. Why this particular demon more than any other? It's not like mentioning the devil, whom most people have at least heard about, religious or not. This demon, I doubt 99.9% of people have ever heard about (especially outside of Hollywood films), yet he's used a number of times in films. I just find it peculiar that this particular demon pops up in many horror films from Hollywood. Anyway, I do not recommend seeing this on cinema, and only watch it at home if you have absolutely nothing else to do. I've seen this films compared to Rosemary's Baby, and other horror classics but this does not even come close to building their level of suspense, dread, and horror. What's most disappointing is the missed potential, all the elements were right there but unfortunately it didn't do much with them.