Late Night With The Devil (2024) spoiler free review
“The live television event that shocked a nation”. Late Night with the Devil is a 2024 found footage horror film directed, written, and edited by Cameron and Colin Cairnes. The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) on March 10, 2023, was theatrically released on March 22, 2024, and will be available on Shudder on April 19, 2024.
Presented in a found footage style, the film purports to be derived from a rediscovered master tape of an episode from the sixth season of the fictional 1970s variety and late-night talk show titled Night Owls with Jack Delroy, broadcasted on Halloween 1977. During this live television broadcast, havoc unfolds when Delroy interviews a parapsychologist and the subject of her recent book, a young teenager who was the sole survivor of a Satanic church’s mass suicide.
Film synopsis
The cast includes David Dastmalchian as Jack Delroy, Laura Gordon as Dr. June Ross-Mitchell, a parapsychologist and author, Ian Bliss as Carmichael the Conjurer, a former magician turned skeptic, Fayssal Bazzi as Christou, a psychic, Ingrid Torelli as Lilly, Rhys Auteri, Georgina Haig, and Josh Quong Tart.
My opinion
On October 31, 1977 Jack Delroy hosts a syndicated late night talk show ‘Night Owls’ that has long been a trusted companion to insomniacs around the country. A year after the tragic death of Jack’s wife, ratings have plummeted. Desperate to turn his fortunes around, Jack plans a Halloween special like no other, unaware that he is about to unleash evil into the living rooms of America.
Following the same structure of an actual talk show Late Night With The Devil successfully immerses you in this found footage presented in an unusual way. David Dastmalchian finally had his moment in the spotlight to show all his talent. Even though the rest of the cast does a good job, it’s Dastmalchian who exceeds expectations. Authenticity and creativity take hand in hand to bring what has been called by many critics “the best horror film of 2024”. And even though it is too early to say, this film will definitely remain at the top.
Something that should be noted is that this is not your typical possession movie with intense scenes. It takes its time to create the right atmosphere and the “action” arrives gradually. The light but effective makeup placed on Ingrid Torelli bears slight similarities to the once placed on Linda Blair in The Exorcist (1973). The similarities may be due to the fact that both films take place during the same era and both actresses have physical similarities or it could be because they were directly inspired by the makeup created by Dick Smith in the horror classic. The only flaw that this film has is that during the “commercial breaks” of the talk show we see the behind the scenes footage but these breaks take away the atmosphere already created and can take you out of the story at times.
Even so, Late night With The Devil is an unpredictable horror film that will leave you speechless with its shocking ending. It is now available in theaters and will be available on Shudder starting April 19, 2024.