Late Night with the Devil — Late Night with the Devil ( Blu Ray/ UHD boxset)
In recent years the found-footage/ mock documentary genre has become largely stale, replaying cliches over & over again. But from time to time you get films that do something fairly fresh/ new with the form, and Late Night with the Devil is one such film. It regards a late 70’s US TV talk show, where the host seemingly talks with a real-life demon, via a damaged/ troubled teen girl. The film blends a well-painted/ realized backstory, low-key dread, and talk-show host parody/ satire, with moments of suddenly intense horror/ shock. Here from Second Sight Films is a UHD/Blu-Ray boxset, taking in a one hundred and twenty-page book, art cards, and six art cards.
Late Night with the Devil is a 2023 production. It was co-directed/ co-written by Australian brothers Cameron & Colin Cairnes. The pair have two other features to their name- taking in horror comedy 100 Bloody Acres( 2021), and psychological horror/ slasher Scare Campaign (2016).
The film runs at the one hour and thirty-three-minute mark- largely remaining entertaining & subtle unease- with moments of chuckle-worthy satire and jarring/ intense horror. We open with a documentary-like intro to our lead character Jake Delroy (David Dastmalchian ) a TV host of Night Owls- a late-night syndicated talk show, who is trying to beat Johny Carson in the ratings. Over the last few years, he’s had rather mixed viewing numbers, and his wife also passed from cancer- with him taking some time off. We kick into the TV series episode within the film at around the ten-minute mark- it’s meant to have been shown on Halloween night 1977.
Everything from the show's brown, beige, and orange-lined set. To the stage, chair set, and audience. The house band and Delroy's beige nylon flared suit, feel believable/ of the period.
We open up with a bit of light-hearted banter between our host and the house band leader the bald, moustached, and tubby Gus McConnell(Rhys Auteri). As the show opens up the gold-jacketed medium Christou(Fayssal Bazzi) starts trying to connect with the show's audience to very mixed results. Also brought out is balding & bearded sceptic and former magician Carmichael Haig( Ian Bliss)- who rips apart the seeming fakery going on with the medium.
As things unfold, and the show presses on( with us shown behind the scenes during ad breaks) income June Ross-Mitchell parapsychologist & author (Laura Gordon), and the young thirteen-year girl Lilly(Ingrid Torelli)- who was rescued from a hand-slicing demonic cult.
And here really I’ll have to end my plot breakdown- so as not to spoil anything- but the whole thing unfolds in an organic and fairly believable manner, with an effective blend of sleek bravado, dad jokes, and real dramatic interaction.
Acting-wise Dastmalchian is perfect as the desperate-to-make-it talk show host, with the pairing of Gordon & Torell being most effective as the parapsychologist and her subject. Both Bliss & Auteri are great as the sceptic, & often made the butt of jokes band leader.
The film is not super scary or shocking for most of its runtime, as it nicely builds its story/ drama, instead of going for the over-the-top we get a nice atmospheric build. yes, when we do get to resolve, it does feel like it’s slightly overdone, with everything but the kitchen sink-in, but we do have a nicely downbeat sign-out. So all in all Late Night with the Devil, lived up to the hype/ promise.
Moving onto this new release- for review we were just sent the Blu-Ray screener disc. And it features a good and weighty selection of new extras. First off we have a commentary track from Australian film writers Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson. They begin talking about how the film was shot in Melbourne, although of course was meant to be in New York. They briefly touch on the director's early work, and how these were more of their home country- in feel/ tone. We find out the film to hand was influenced by Network and The King Of Comedy- with their pair being inspired by both John Carpenter & David Cronenberg. They talk about how tight the structure of the film is, and chat about how some Australian films are inspired by the US. They discuss the reason why the directors wanted to set it in New York, and how originally they had debated setting it in their home country. They chat about Don Lane- who was one of the biggest talk show hosts in Oz, and what elements in the film were based on him. Later on, they talk about satanic cinema in general, and where the film to hand fits into the genre. They discuss the satanic panic in Oz, and Michele Remembers- the 1980 book that inspired Lilly’s case in the picture. We get supporting cast bios, and much more- all in all a most worthwhile track.
Otherwise, we get the following on-film interviews. Bringing Their 'A' Game(39.17) with directors Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes. Mind if I Smoke?:(11.45) with actor Ian Bliss. We're Gonna Make a Horror Movie(11.51)with actor Ingrid Torelli. Extremely Lucky( 14.46).
There’s Cult Hits( 24.53) a video essay from Zoë Rose Smith- she starts off discussing the film to hand, before going on to discuss ten other films of note with similar themes. We get behind-the-scenes footage(21.36), and short on stage Q&A (8.16).And a making of (8.06).
Late Night with the Devil blends wonderful 70’s authenticity, dark satire, and building dread/ unease- with a let's go nuts resolve. It’s great to see the film getting the classy Second Sight treatment- with some most worthy & interesting extras, and of course the one hundred and twenty-page book.