Late Night with the Devil – A Spooky Retro Horror Film

Late Night With the Devil premiered at last years SXSW film festival and is finally being released in North America after being acquired by IFC Films and Shudder. The story follows Jack Delroy (Dastmalchian), the host of a syndicated talk show that has long been a trusted companion to insomniacs around the country. However, ratings for the show have plummeted since the tragic death of his beloved wife. Desperate to turn his fortunes around and surpass the heights of his rival Johnny Carson, on October 31^st, 1977, Jack planned a Halloween special like no other, unaware of the evil he was about to unleash into the living rooms of America. The film has been generating a lot of buzz since it’s premiere, especially from the horror community, has steadily grown from there as mainstream audiences have joined in. While it might not fully live up to praise it has been garnering this past year, it is still a rock solid horror film, offering a breath of fresh air for both the possession and found footage genres.

The entire film is presented as watching a late night talk show program from the 1970’s as the filmmakers absolutely nail the look and feel of a 1970s late night talk show and the time period as a whole. The use of old fashioned commercials inserted into the program, and how the film changed aspect ratios according to what was happening to the characters were also nice touches. For a film that takes place primarily in one location throughout its 93-minute runtime, it remains engaging and never drags or becomes repetitive because of its good pacing. A unique take on the possession genre, it does some cool things with it. Though not necessarily a terrifying or consistently frightening ride, it has a spooky atmosphere and a sense of dread from the start and it only grows over the course of the film. Meanwhile, the practical effect work here is impressive as its third act really goes for it in terms of chaos.

There are a lot of things to take away from here, and the most important one of them all was also the best thing about it which was Dastmalchian’s terrific lead performance as Delroy. Not only does he command the screen, it is so refreshing to see him finally get a lead role, and he’s more than up for the task of leading it. Dastmalchian fits this setting and time period perfectly and truly embodies the role of a late night talk show host from that era from his look to his various mannerisms. He is usually typecast as creepy, disturbed, or tortured characters and while there’s some of that here to an extent, it’s nice to see him in a different light where he got to be charming, energetic, and play a livelier character despite the horror of it all. The rest of the supporting cast are strong as well namely Bliss (Carmichael Haig) and Ingrid Torelli (Lilly D’Abo).

When an indie horror film makes the rounds exclusively on the festival scene for nearly an entire year before getting a wide release, there’s a chance that the final product could be a tad overhyped, and here, it turned out to be the case here to a certain extent. That being said, it is is still a good horror film that worth recommending to just about any horror fan, but it is not this revolutionary game-changer that it was allegedly made out to be. While it is spooky at times and can get under one’s skin, it is never as scary as it clearly is trying to be. The ending, in particular, doesn’t fully work and will leave audiences with more questions than answers. One last thing to mention is the film’s use of AI. A few days ago, it was discovered and later confirmed by the director that 3 images generated by AI were included in this. Aside from shortchanging real artists, the choice doesn’t truly affect the overall film in the grand scheme, however, with how loud the resulting discussion has become, it was worth mentioning it.

In the end, Late Night With the Devil might not be the horror masterpiece some have already hailed it as, but it is still a unique experience that perfectly captures the late night 1970’s talk show scene accentuated by a well-crafted ominous atmosphere. If nothing else, the film is worth seeing for David Dastmalchian incredible lead performance alone and one that will hopefully lead him to more lead roles in the future. Above all else, it is easily the best horror film of the year so far and a standout in what has been an otherwise dreadful year for horror.

still courtesy of IFC Films and Shudder

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/