LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL - Mark Reviews Movies

Late Night with the Devil, IFC Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | March 21, 2024

Fraternal co-writers/directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes pull off a pretty neat trick with Late Night with the Devil. Presented as a fake documentary about a late-night talk show that goes horribly wrong, the movie primarily revolves around a re-creation of a live television broadcast from the late 1970s, in which a supposed videotape master of the show provides evidence of an unprecedented encounter with a demonic spirit.

If not for the fact that some may recognize the movie's star from his recent success as a character actor in some high-profile features, the gimmick would be mostly convincing. It looks right in all of the big details, mostly in shot-on-video aesthetic that also gives it the sense of a cassette having sat on a shelf for decades, and the smaller ones, from the color palette of the talk show's set to our host's sideburns.

There's just something off about the story and structure of everything surrounding the phony broadcast. It's either that the filmmakers don't entirely trust their ability to pull off this trick, meaning they have to give us a lot of background information upfront and scatter more throughout the dramatized broadcast, or that they've focused so much on the gimmick as to ignore how to pay it off in a satisfying way. The movie builds tension, simply from appearing like some sort of secret and taboo pop-culture artifact—something that we're not supposed know about, let alone watch. Every time the Cairnes brothers stop the show or toy with the medium, though, that illusion is broken, and the suspense goes along with it.

There's a lot of history to this fake show to get through initially, too. We learn about Jack Delory, played by David Dastmalchian with just the right level of charm and self-aware cheesiness that he could probably be a late-night host if the acting thing doesn't work out to his liking (Let's hope his chosen profession does, though, because he's quite good at it).

Jack was a radio DJ out of Chicago before getting a big break hosting a talk show that hoped to rival late-night king Johnny Carson's reign. As you might anticipate, Jack never got there, but he did get close a few times before the 1977 broadcast that would be the end of this project.

Yes, the Cairneses' screenplay is a bit heavy on the exposition at first, explaining the trajectory of Jack's career, showing highlights of his time as host of "Night Owls," and explaining how he found love in a stage actress named Madeleine (Georgina Haig), before losing her to cancer only a couple years later. One year after his wife's death, Jack made a triumphant return to television, and with the ratings grabs of the coveted "sweeps" week beginning on Halloween night of '77, he and his team have a big, spooky episode planned.

It may be a lot of info, but the direct, to-the-point explanation somehow adds both to the authenticity of the illusion and sense of impending doom for whatever horrors are about unfold on this recording (Michael Ironside provides the narration to the introductory segment, so that helps, for sure). It all seems like a silly little stunt of a show, with Jack hosting an alleged psychic, a professional skeptic about all things paranormal, and a doctor who has brought a young girl who was part of and rescued from a Satanic cult a couple years prior. Jack's put-upon sidekick Gus (Rhys Auteri) is even wearing a cheap devil costume, and the tacky enthusiasm for such goofy bits feels correct, too.

The actual narrative is divided into two distinct sections. One is the broadcast itself, which goes off without any hitches, until the psychic, named Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), seems to have contact with a spirit that surprises even him. He and the skeptical Carmichael (Ian Bliss) argue about the supernatural, but the rather violent rumbling coming from Christou's abdomen puts a quick end to that debate.

The other section is behind-the-scenes footage during commercial breaks, where Jack, his guests, and assorted crew members sort of talk in circles about what we've already seen and hint at what's to come—such as the fact that Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) is concerned she can't find the restraints for her patient Lilly (Ingrid Torelli). Why does a pre-teen girl need restraints to be on national TV? Well, a pre-taped intro to Lilly's involvement in a cult, which had been rumored to be breeding children for sacrifice, is far more unsettling than any of the behind-the-scenes stuff. That's because it's playing by the rules of the faux broadcast, instead of working around them in such a distracting, often redundant way.

It happens a bit too often for the material's own good, especially because the effect of the re-created broadcast is so convincing. Once things go wrong, they do so in ways that are fairly predictable (a demonic possession with all the usual hallmarks—a growling voice, levitation, shouted incantations) yet still eerie because of the illusion of so thoroughly copying the medium. At a certain point, though, Late Night with the Devil can't even maintain the strength of its stylistic convictions, and in breaking its own rules in order to mess with our heads, the material undermines its gimmick and why it actually works as a creepy bit of horror.

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