‘Late Night with the Devil’ is a Slick and Energetic Spectacle [Review]

Late Night with the Devil, an intense new horror movie from Australian writer/director sibling duo Colin and Cameron Cairnes, is a love letter to the glory days of ’70s late night television, but also a cynical portrayal of the depraved nature of the price of fame. Late Night with the Devil is on one hand, a classic gore fest, while on the other hand, a modern and slickly executed psychological thriller. With all that said, the best quality of Late Night with the Devil is its unique presentation, providing the audience with something that feels totally new and original, even in the oft formulaic found footage genre. I would say that Late Night with the Devil isn’t 100% submerged in the found footage waters, so to speak, but it is shin-deep on the shore, bordering on waist-deep. Along with the presentation, the performances, the direction, the practical effects and of course, the writing feel cutting edge from front to back. Late Night with the Devil is a can’t miss experience for not only horror fans, but the movie going public as a whole. Let’s dive in, right after a word from our sponsors…

Late Night with the Devil stars David Dastmalchian, as Jack Delroy, host of ‘Night Owls with Jack Delroy’. ‘Night Owls with Jack Delroy’ is essentially a riff on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder, amongst other offbeat variety late night television programming of the ’70s. For whoever remembers Tom Snyder, I want to wish you a happy 85th birthday. Since Late Night with the Devil takes place in the ’70s, Johnny Carson is of course the specter that looms large over the story, dwarfing ‘Night Owls’ in the ratings. Delroy is the self-proclaimed Mr. Midnight, but with his ratings in the dumps of late, is losing cultural relevance to the point where he might have to resort to either carpool karaoke or exorcisms to claw his way back up the charts. In this moment of desperation, Delroy and his producer Leo, played by Josh Quong Tart, decide to light the fuse on an explosive Halloween episode involving a psychic, a parapsychologist, a demonic cult survivor, and a skeptic with the hopes of an exorcism maybe turning the tides on the tumbling ratings. Exorcisms make for great television, especially during sweeps. Exorcisms also make for great movie scenes…

Late Night with the Devil opens with a montage of sorts, breaking down the recent history of both ‘Night Owls’ the show, as well as Jack Delroy’s personal life. It is made clear from the jump that Delroy has a debilitating need for the show to succeed, but Delroy also has a complicated reputation shrouded in rumors, as well as tragic circumstances befalling him, this being the death of his wife. Unknown as to how intertwined Delroy’s complicated personal ties are to the tragedies falling upon him. The opening montage sets the scene beautifully, and in no time at all, the audience is fully immersed in the world of Jack Delroy…

Once the stage is set, the rest of Late Night with the Devil plays out in real time, all taking place in the midst of the tragic episode, beginning to end. One of my favorite qualities of Late Night with the Devil was the procedural nature of how an episode of late-night television, especially in the ’70s, is taped. From the opening monologue to the retro soundstage, banter between commercial breaks, transitioning to those commercial breaks, the audience dynamic and of course, the heavy boozing during commercials all feel truly realistic. The production design is really remarkable. The ‘Night Owls’ set feels so lived in and real. An absolute necessity for a found footage movie is to provide the audience with a sense of realism. That is the only way to truly suck them in, and then spit them right back out. A late-night television show’s success is completely reliant on the charisma of the host. So for Late Night with the Devil, this was a very important casting decision. We’ve seen our fair share of late-night hosts who simply did not have what it takes to carry a late-night show, shoutout to The Chevy Chase Show. Successful late-night hosts seem to possess specific characteristics. Those being funny, sharp and surprisingly a little bit unassuming. When you tell me there is a movie coming out where the main character is a ’70s late night host. I’ll just say in the most respectful way possible; David Dastmalchian wouldn’t be my first or hundredth guess as to who the star would be. Boy, was I wrong to have that mindset… 

David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad, The Boogeyman), a genre stalwart and experienced role player in the industry, finally gets his chance to flex his muscles as a leading man, and he didn’t disappoint one bit. Like I said earlier, there was a tinge of skepticism going into this. As much of a fan as I am of his work across genres for about fifteen years now, Dastmalchian as a leading man just never really occurred to me as a possibility. The character Jack Delroy required a specific type of performer. On one hand, ‘Night Owls’ with Jack Delroy is a direct competitor to Johnny Carson, but on the other hand, it seems like it is a very offbeat show with a plethora of quirky segments. A show like that would require a charismatic but also mysteriously dark personality. Who better to play this role than the guy who has been all over the screen for fifteen years, a guy who movie goers would for sure say to themselves “Oh, that guy”, but I guarantee you would not be able to name more than one Dastmalchian character on screen, of course, other than the Polka-Dot Man from James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, or Piter de Vries for my fellow Dune homies out there. Dastmalchian brings Jack Delroy to life, full of quirkiness and quips, while also maintaining a shadowy and mysterious presence. The audience doesn’t totally know what to think of Jack Delroy, because they do not totally know what to think of Dastmalchian. This is a star-making performance that might actually translate to Dastmalchian starring in movies across genres, but at the least, horror fans will for sure be seeing a lot of Dastmalchian going forward…

On the technical side, Late Night with the Devil is a spectacle on a budget. The Cairnes brothers will be filmmakers to watch going forward. The energy in Late Night with the Devil is palpable and it was really hard to pick out a section in the movie that felt slow. I found the pacing to be fantastic. There are buildups that never feel too extensive, and the payoffs always pay in full. Throughout the course of the movie, or you could say throughout the course of the broadcast, there is an eeriness that never dissipates, but it still feels fun and funny in parts. If the Cairnes brothers get their flowers for a specific quality of the movie, in my opinion it would be for them nailing the tone to a tee. The practical effects used in spots are so much fun, and really call back to the greatness of ’80s horror, which makes it so unfortunate that the minimal use of AI is being held against it. Hopefully even the discourse surrounding that discussion isn’t damaging enough to impact the legacy of this movie, because I find it to be bordering on a technical masterclass…

Back to the plot, like I had mentioned previously, Late Night with the Devil opens with a montage setting the stage, and then once that stage is set, oddity ensues. Jack Delroy has his producer Leo, but also a sidekick, Gus, played by Rhys Auteri. Think of Gus as the Andy Richter from the Conan O’Brien show caricature. Gus’ intentions are not as insidious as Jack and Leo, meaning he won’t go to the desperate lengths for the program’s success that they will. Right from the start we, the audience, knows that Jack has lost his wife to cancer, lung cancer specifically, even though she was not a smoker. After her death, Jack had shut down the show for a stretch to recover from this loss. After coming back, the show is not nearly as successful, so Jack and Leo devise a plan to bring on a trio of psychics, one a parapsychologist, Dr. June Ross-Mitchell, played by Laura Gordon, one just a psychic, Christou, played by Fayssal Bazzi, and one a former psychic who is now a skeptic, Carmichael the Conjurer ‘Car’, played by Ian Bliss, onto the show for a special demonic themed episode. Most importantly, this includes the crucial guest of the program, a young girl who is a survivor of a demonic cult, Lilly, played by Ingrid Torelli. After Christou goes through with some audience play, involving communicating with the dead, Carmichael is on stage watching with disgust, pledging money to prove it is all just a ruse, or a very sophisticated hypnotic act. Jack then brings Dr. Ross-Mitchell and Lilly on for an interview, which devolves, intentionally, into basically an exorcism, but was supposed to be just a display, involving young Lilly, who claims that a Mr. Wriggles has possessed her. To avoid spoilers, the rest of the movie plays out in jaw-dropping fashion. Late Night with the Devil has shades of different exorcism and demonic-themed movies throughout. A true homage to what made retro horror from the ’70s and ’80s so great. I found it played very similarly to an exorcism themed horror movie from a few years back, The Cleansing Hour, which I would highly recommend as a double feature to pair up with Late Night with the Devil. All in all, Late Night with the Devil plays out to its shocking conclusion that will leave you awestruck, but I will admit, a little bit of wanting for more from the finale. I would liken it to a rollercoaster ride where everything exciting is happening so fast and furious for 95% of the run, but then it just ends so abruptly, in almost a jarring fashion…

Overall, I highly recommend Late Night with the Devil to anyone and everyone. It is a fun movie, a dark movie and a unique movie. It’s slick and energetic. Even though some of the tropes are frequently used in the genre, the way Late Night with the Devil is executed is wholly original, with superb quality and care. The meticulous work that seemed to go into it shows on screen, and shines. See this one in a movie theater, it will be well worth your time. Unfortunately, though, we have run out of time here and will have to push the musical act to tomorrow. Goodnight, everyone…

See you at the movies…

Wicked Horror Rating: 8/10

From IFC Films & Shudder, Late Night with the Devil releases theatrically March 22nd, 2024.

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