Late Night with The Devil Movie Review
Late Night with The Devil has got to be one of the most satisfying horror movies I’ve seen in a good while. It’s a fun retro roller coaster ride of what-the-fuckery that’s incredibly enjoyable. So, get comfy and let’s take a trip back to that weird ‘70s era via Late Night with The Devil.
Late Night with The Devil opens documentary-like with some of the more memorable happenings and quotable/notable figures from the 1970s, including the “Satanic Panic” paranoia. There’s a bit of a scandalous backstory about our lead character, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) thrown in as well.
Jack’s an ambitious and personable host of the late-night variety show Night Owls with Jack Delroy. We learn Jack lost his wife to cancer and that his show is in jeopardy due to low ratings and an expiring contract. So, what do we get? Well, we’re privy to seeing the “never before seen footage” of a super spooky live Halloween sweeps week episode full of tricks and treats, along with behind-the-scenes footage.
The first half of Late Night with The Devil features a darkly comedic tone. We have the usual cast of characters that were always present on the late-night circuit back in the day. The over-the-top lineup of guests, including a charismatic medium named Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) and a snarky magician turned skeptic (Ian Bliss), comes out to entertain the eager audience.
Jack keeps it running as best he can with his smooth tv-host charm, along with help from his sidekick Gus (Rhys Auteri). So, everything up until this point has been a seemingly good time until the first commercial break. Stay tuned, folks!
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Next up, the big stars of the night are introduced, and the real show begins! Jack brings on Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), author of “Conversations with the Devil”, and her young patient Lily (Ingrid Torelli), who’s the only survivor of a satanic death cult.
Lily claims she’s still possessed by a demon the cult worshipped. She even refers to the demon as “Mr. Wiggles”. How precious! And wouldn’t it be a great ratings booster to get the demon to show itself live on air? At least that’s what Jack has in mind. However, things don’t go as planned. In fact, things go from being hokey fun to downright hellish.
Late Night with The Devil is one of the best films I have seen in the last few years. The storyline hits differently than a typical horror film. It really resonates after the credits roll, and I appreciate a film that can do that.
Visually, the look is spot on. Being a kid of the ‘70s late-night talk show era, I felt like I was watching an actual tv show from the era and not a recreation. The horror/gore elements aren’t plentiful, but they are effective. The casting is perfect. In fact, enough can’t be said about the performances, especially that of David Dastmalchian. This might just be his best work to date.
Finally, huge kudos to Cameron and Colin Cairnes for writing and directing such a brilliant film! Late Night with The Devil is currently playing in select theaters before it streams on Shudder this April.
