Late Night with the Devil - Film Review

I'm not a big fan of the winter months of a new year. The weather is miserable, people get sick, and most importantly the movies suck. As we roll into April though, the first signs of Spring are beginning to show. Well...sort of. The weather is still terrible and I've got a slight case of the sniffles, but the good movies are starting to roll out. This one had been on my radar for a little while now and I was eagerly anticipating it hitting the big screen. Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let's welcome Spring together.

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Where You Can Find It: I caught this in theaters, but it will release to Shudder on 19 April 2024.

General Information
Late Night with the Devil is a found footage horror film released in theaters on 22 March 2024. It was written and directed by Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes. It also appears to be the Cairnes Brothers' theatrical debut. Cinematography was provided by Matthew Temple, and the Cairnes Brothers also performed all editing on the film. Music was handled by Roscoe James Irwin and Glenn Richards. A total of ten different studios produced this film with IFC Films distributing theatrically (in the USA), and Shudder distributing digitally. I must admit that the number of production studios is pretty staggering when the film begins as viewers will see sizzle reels for each and every one of them. As of 25 March 2024, Late Night with the Devil has brought in a little over $2.8 million worldwide against a budget of $2 million. Critically, the film holds a 72 Metascore on Metacritic, and 96% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

Briefly, it is worth bringing up that this film ushered in some controversy around its release date due to its inclusion of AI-generated art. Three images used in the film were created via an AI generator, which was later edited and modified by actual humans. The Cairnes Brothers released the following public statement to Variety on 21 March 2024:

“In conjunction with our amazing graphics and production design team, all of whom worked tirelessly to give this film the 70s aesthetic we had always imagined, we experimented with AI for three still images which we edited further and ultimately appear as very brief interstitials in the film. We feel incredibly fortunate to have had such a talented and passionate cast, crew and producing team go above and beyond to help bring this film to life. We can’t wait for everyone to see it for themselves this weekend.”

For what it's worth, I'm generally opposed to the use of AI-generated assets in the creative process, however I also can empathize with this film's severely restricted budget. Considering the fact that ten different studios had their fingerprints on this film, I imagine this was difficult to get out the door, and penny pinching was needed whenever possible. As its only three images, I don't find this to be too egregious, but it is concerning to see artificial intelligence seep into filmmaking more and more.

The Story
Late Night with the Devil opens as a documentary on the rise and fall of ambitious 1970s talk-show host, Jack Delroy (played by David Dastmalchian), and his decreasingly popular late night show, Night Owls with Jack Delroy. The bulk of the documentary is the presentation of the show's last episode on Halloween night of 1977, along with the inclusion of some behind-the-scenes footage. In keeping with the holiday's theme, Jack brings on various guests hailing from supernatural backgrounds who each inject their own brand of chaos upon the show. Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) can supposedly commune with the dead; Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss) is an ex-magician with an axe to grind over his previous profession; and June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) is a parapsychologist that has been studying the troubled Lilly D'Abo (Ingrid Torelli), who is the sole survivor of a satanic suicide cult.

 

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After tonight's show, Night Owls with Jack Delroy can expect a bump in ratings, but at what cost?

A concern I had going into this movie was that it would merely be yet another ghost/possession story but with some 1970s TV frills. The film's trailer certainly presents it as such, but I found Late Night with the Devil to be more than simply just people freaking out over basic horror staples. In some ways, I was reminded of Richard Matheson's Hell House, as many of the primary characters are well-rounded and have differing motivations when dealing with the occult. Jack Delroy isn't just an opportunist hoping spooky stuff will bump up his show's ratings, but he's also a man still struggling with the loss of his wife who's struggling to keep himself together as his business crumbles beneath him. Christou initially comes off as a dime-store fortune teller, but there's more than initially meets the eye with him. It's fascinating getting to see these characters interact on a literal stage before an audience.

The third act devolves a bit, near the tail-end, in a way that I wasn't all too fond of. For a brief period of time, the Cairne Brothers break from their documentary/television storytelling format and go full Lynchian. Without going into spoilers, I can understand why they made that decision as it directly impacts the ending, but at the same time it makes the story inconsistent in how it's told. From a writing perspective, it would be akin to writing a novel in the third person and then abruptly shifting to the first person in one of the last chapters. It's not a game-breaker by any means, but it's jarring. I respectfully felt they could've found another way to convey what they were trying to tell the viewers without resorting to such extreme measures.

 

Special Effects/Atmosphere

I've watched more than my fair share of late night talk-shows (although Johnny Carson was a bit before my time), so I really appreciated this film's unique presentation and structure as an episode of late night television contained within a documentary. Night Owls with Jack Delroy feels like a legitimate talk-show and follows the routine formula one might see on Real Time with Bill Maher or The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon today. Beyond the structure, the set design looks identical to a TV studio, complete with broadcast equipment from that time period and a live studio. Even the way most of the film is shot is via the perspective of the studio's cameras. An interesting way the Cairne Brothers contrast the portions of the show that are broadcast from the behind-the-scenes footage is that all of the behind-the-scenes segments are in black and white. It's a really nice touch that excellently established some great immersion throughout the film.

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The Cairne Brothers do a fantastic job of making Night Owls with Jack Delroy feel like a real talk-show

Special effects are hard to come by when a film is on a tight budget, so I was really surprised to see what the Cairne Brothers were able to pull off with the limited means that they had. The majority of the special effects are practical and they look fantastic and arguably match what a film from the 1970s would use back then. There's some gruesome body horror in certain scenes that made me flinch and squirm in my seat, and I was really impressed with how realistic it all looked! The only nitpick I have is that some of the modern imagery noticeably clashes when directly contrasted with genuine 1970s footage. A great example would be that at one point we see a side-by-side comparison of Jack Delroy and Johnny Carson and Delroy is in high definition, while Carson is in the standard definition of the 1970s.

The Acting 

David Dastmalchian has always been a phenomenal character actor, but he (literally) gets to take center-stage here and I think he does a great job with the role as Jack Delroy. We get to see Dastmalchian cover a range of emotions from being silly and goofy as a talk-show host to anxious and unsettled when things go wrong. I may have had my issues with this film's third act, but Dastmalchian specifically does some of his best work in that segment.

With the exception of Dastmalchian, I wasn't all that familiar with the rest of the cast, so it was a treat to look at the rest of the talent on the screen and see them all do awesome jobs. Ian Bliss was a real stand-out as the skeptical Carmichael who had me both laughing and reeling from some of the antics his character got into. Ingrid Torelli gave a chilling performance as Lilly D'Abo, and I'm certain we'll be seeing her in future projects again. Lastly, I applaud Fayssal Bazzi's job as the over-the-top seer, Christou. I wish I had gotten to see more of him and his character as I thought he did a great job of setting the tone for what to expect as the story continued.

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You just know the movie is going to get good when the dude in the gold get-up strolls on-stage

The Best of the Best: Carmichael demonstrating how hypnosis works.

The Worst of the Worst: The trippy closing sequence.

Calhooey Score: 7/10 - Good

Would I Recommend?

5

You will watch this...You will watch this...

Late Night with the Devil is a stellar example of how smaller-budget films can continue to change the face of horror and even filmmaking without relying on hundreds of millions of dollars. This is an awesome little period piece, with some great special effects and highly competent actors. If you like horror movies, this will become an instant classic to look back on. I certainly recommend checking this out in theaters if you're able, but I would also say that this may be the cream of the crop for Shudder's streaming library for the foreseeable future.

Spoiler Comments

• I really enjoyed the rapport between Jack and Gus. Reminded me a lot of David Letterman and Paul Shaffer.
  
• The guy dressed as the skeleton in the audience gave me some bad vibes. For some reason, I thought he was some ghastly figure in disguise that would upend things near the final act.
• We had yet to be introduced to Lilly and June when Christou puked and died, so I'm curious if "Mr. Wriggles" was the one who killed him, or if that was something else entirely.
• All hail Mr. Wriggles and despair!
  
• That poor make-up worker had a really rough night. Got abused by damn-near everyone on the stage except Lilly who ended up turning into a literal demon.
• The only one who had it worse was clearly Gus. Dude goes through the trauma of believing worms are bursting from his body and then gets smoked by a demon...
  
• I did not take my eyes off of that ritual dagger when Jack placed it between him and Lilly before the full-on possession happened.
• I laughed pretty hard when Lilly got fully possessed and Carmichael immediately prostrated himself before it to swear allegiance.
  
• The level of restraint from the audience is impressive. I would've hightailed it out of there as soon as Gus started pulling worms from his neck!
  
• So, if Jack made a deal with a demon to become famous and still got trounced by Johnny Carson, does this mean Carson was just that good, or did Carson have a better demon?
• The portion of the third act I had issues with was when we witness Jack Delroy go into a trance and stab Lilly. Considering Dastmalchian's skills, I feel as though we would have been better off watching him trip out on stage and slowly go about stabbing Lilly.
• I will certainly admit that I loved that the film just cuts to credits after Jack stabs Lilly to death.
  

References

(1) Late Night with the Devil. (2023). Late Night with the Devil cover image. IMDB. Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14966898/mediaviewer/rm60770049/.

(2) Hannon, Melissa. (n.d.). Jack Delroy and others interview image. HGL. Retrieved from: https://www.horrorgeeklife.com/2024/03/13/late-night-with-the-devil-everything-to-know-and-how-to-watch/.

(3) Chakraborty, S. (2024, March 15). Jack Delroy monologue image. Sportskeeda. Retrieved from: https://www.sportskeeda.com/comics/fact-check-is-late-night-devil-based-true-story-explained.

(4) Late Night with the Devil (2023. Christou image. Kinorium. Retrieved from: https://en.kinorium.com/2793139/.

(5)Wilkinson, A. (2024, March 21). Jack Delroy screaming image. New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/movies/late-night-with-the-devil-review.html.