Late Night with the Devil (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.

My Take – For those who have been feeling wary about jumping back into found footage films, fear not, as the genre gets a clever update in this latest from Australian writers-directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes (Scare Campaign).

Presenting their film as a lost episode of a 1970s talk show, this grimly stylish horror entry transport us back to a time when talk show hosts sat atop their ratings and bridged the gap between viewers at home and the dazzling fame of Hollywood.

Laced with moral anxiety that would lead to the Satanic Panic of the next decade, the feature ends up being a refreshingly intriguing and phenomenal spin, standing out as a shining example of what’s still possible with the right idea and execution.

Inter-cut with backstage footage, and assembled and presented here as a quasi-documentary, every aspect, from sets to costumes to performances and some incredible special effects, contribute to the authentic atmosphere. While some elements may be over-the-top, they serve to captivate the audience.

Sure, the ending may not work for some, but for the most part it pulls off its stunt and delivers on its premise of a show business satire that shows the demonic side of TV ratings wars. Indeed, proving the Cairnes brothers to be a formidable film-making duo.

Beginning with a prologue that is framed as a documentary, the story follows TV host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) and investigates an unexplained event that occurred on October 31, 1977 during the live broadcast of the sixth season Halloween special episode of Night Owls with Jack Delroy, a rather successful variety late-night talk show that has been struggling to compete for ratings with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

But having recently lost his terminally ill wife Madeleine Piper (Georgina Haig) to cancer, the host, known for making regular visits to “The Grove”, a supposed cult and an elite California camp for rich and powerful men, mysteriously disappears for a month, only to return with even lower ratings.

In desperation, Jack and his hard-drinking producer, Leo (Josh Quong Tart), gin up a sensationalist drivel to vie for audience attention. This particular episode has our host bringing on various guests who deal in the supernatural phenomena to hopefully prove themselves beyond an unquestionable doubt to win a $100,000 prize. This of course is put up by an ex-magician turned pro-skeptic, Carmichael the Conjurer (Ian Bliss).

One of those guests being on-the-make Latino medium Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) and the other being Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), a parapsychologist and the author of the book “Conversations with the Devil”. And she’s brought along with her the subject of said book, Lilly (Ingrid Torelli), a young survivor of a satanic church’s mass suicide. In a ratings stunt, Jack Delroy has the pair prove their supernatural gifts, by conjuring a demon on live television. As one would expect, soon everything begin to go awry.

The opening narration does a great job at setting the tone for the rest of the film. It gives off that creepy mystery documentary vibe and it draws you into the story right away. Offering up an impeccable recreation of syndicated ’70s TV, we cut from the live feed to black-and-white behind-the-scenes moments, as begin to learn more about the actual veracity of what it is we’re seeing.

The writing is particularly a stand out here, as it is constantly witty and keeps jumping from moments of dread to lighthearted humor. It’s this duality that stretches the entire runtime that helps propel everything forward at just the right pace for a taught slow-burner. The directors, Cairnes brothers, get a lot of mileage out of the period production design and costuming details, as well as the film grain, all of which lend authenticity to the film’s found footage gimmick.

One of the best elements of the film is how it contends with frauds. Giving a spotlight to the many types of people who have visited late-night television sets for years. As the viewer starts to believe there’s something ghostly occurring, Carmichael Haig steps in with a dose of reality. This furthers the trend of slowing ramping up the intensity as the film progresses.

The film maintains a dark, mysterious tone through smart subplots and unpredictable twists, culminating in a satisfying conclusion that ties everything together to perfection. Yes, there are some moments that some might deem as cheesy like the Abraxas cult that is presented through the lens of a 70s news report. And while I agree that the character Lily should have been explored more, the mystery adds on to the elements as it dishes out an overall theme of the price of fame.

It helps that David Dastmalchian delivers a very believable performance as a 70’s late night talk show host. Dastmalchian deftly maneuvers between the mourning widower trying to keep his composure and the desperate late-night personality clinging to his fame like a wild animal backed into a corner. He carries himself with a remarkable level of suave and genuine awkwardness in the moments he faces the camera, but once the lights are off, he transforms to a more calloused, cynical version of himself with tunnel-vision for success.

Laura Gordon does a great job and Ingrid Torelli is incredible as the creepy possessed girl. Their chemistry helps to sell this story. Ian Bliss brings in a downright masterful performance and is wonderfully off putting. Rhys Auteri also does a great job. On the whole, ‘Late Night with the Devil’ is a fun spine-chilling found footage horror that is refreshingly original.