Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
Plot: A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.
Review: After what has felt like weeks without anything new, the horror genre came out swinging with two new entries, Immaculate and Late Night with the Devil. As the latter looked infinitely more interesting, I decided that’s the one I would check out in cinemas and wait for the other to hit VOD. Set in 1977, a year that spawned the likes of Son of Sam, The Yorkshire Ripper and Ted Bundy (what the hell was happening then?!), I went into this expecting a horror movie for the ages. What I got though was a decent story that doesn’t go half as far as you expect it would.
David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad, Ant-Man, Oppenheimer) has quickly become one of my favourite actors. The man has a gift for delivering likeable, if not a bit unhinged characters. Here he plays late night host Jack Delroy, a man whose star is seemingly destined to soar as his successful late-night show is on its way to beating the likes of 70’s talk show icon Johnny Carson.
With it being “sweeps week”, a time when networks vied for high ratings to ensure their ability to charge for airtime, Jack and his producer Leo (Josh Quong Tart) decide to take their annual Halloween show to the next level by bringing on parapsychologist Dr Ross-Mitchel (Laura Gordon) and her patient turned ward Lilly (Ingrid Torelli). The kicker here being Lilly is allegedly possessed by a demon and Jack wants to make history by being the first to “interview” the devil himself. It goes about as well as one would expect.
So let me get the groovy stuff out of the way first. This movie looks great and with cinematography true to the era it’s easy enough to buy into the 70’s aesthetics. The lighting, art deco and of course costumes, all scream 1977, or at least it did for me based on the movies I’ve seen from that timeline.
An aspect that is also very 70s is the atmosphere which feels a bit grimy and there’s a definite sense early on of dread and tension as you wait for the other shoe to drop. I also appreciated how many of the actors here were unfamiliar faces, making it easier to buy into their roles without the normal evasive thoughts of, “Hey it’s that guy/gal.” A lot of love and attention went into making this movie look as good as it does, and it paid off.
Where this jive turkey got lame (that’s what the kids were saying back then right?) was in the overall execution of its story. I understand why creators Colin and Cameron Cairnes decided to go the found footage route as it’s a legit way to make fictional stories seem like they’re based in fact (to be clear, Late Night with the Devil is one hundred per cent fictional). The problem is it’s not that easy to explain away why someone would be filming in situations that don’t warrant it. No spoilers I promise, but I will give an example. Scenes where camera operators would follow around Jack and other crewmembers when their show went to commercial begs the question, “Why would they be doing that?” I’ve seen my share of talk shows and I’ve never seen that. This and other scenes like this pulled me out from time to time but I was invested enough not to nitpick too much.
What I couldn’t let go of was the insanely unwise decision to give so much away in the opening exposition. After seeing it I doubt a single person viewing this wouldn’t know exactly where things were heading. The sad part is if they had left it out and just started the movie from the talk show it would’ve made for a much more compelling narrative.
Late Night with the Devil has a lot to offer in terms of its visual style and genuine dread-filled atmosphere. It’s just a shame they didn’t play their cards closer to their vest. It would’ve made this movie a hundred times more thrilling. That said, it offers up a solid amount of ambiguity as it swings between what’s real and what’s not, which should keep people talking about it long after the credits have rolled.
Sommer’s Score: 6.5 out of 10
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Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More