Directors: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes
Writers: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes
Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Georgina Haig, Josh Quong Tart

Do you ever miss the horror B-movie style of old? Those classic low-budget horrors that were both terrible and awesome simultaneously? They just don’t make them like that anymore. Or, at least, audiences have become so desensitised to horror that they don’t pack the same punch as they did in the 60s, 70s and 80s. With the body horror and gore and grotesque nature, they were always quite the shock fest (and still can be). Late Night with the Devil fully harks back to the classics and had a lot of clear influences from the past, but does it produce the creepy results we desire, or has it fallen victim to the modern cliches and tropes of horror filmmaking, thus rendering it flat and boring?

In 1977, popular TV talk show host Jack Delroy (Dastmalchian) loses his wife to cancer, and his late-night show, Night Owls, is trending downward in ratings and viewership, so he takes a short hiatus. In order to gain back his audience, he returns on Halloween night with some guests on his show that are connected with the supernatural to enthral his audience. One such guest is young Lily D’Abo (Torelli) and her guardian, June Ross-Mitchell (Gordon). Before and after their appearance, strange things happen on the set, and through live footage mixed with behind-the-scenes footage, the film is put together like a documentary, showing everything that happened (and more) on that fateful night.

Normally I reserve my thoughts for smaller, more indie movies like this for shorter Tiny Tapes Reviews, however after watching Late Night with the Devil, I felt it warranted its own full review and a push into the public consciousness. This film is most definitely quickly going to find itself at cult-classic status. At its heart are two writer/director brothers who apparently really know their stuff when it comes to creating a horror film that not only provides the shocks and gore, but also builds extremely well, with great pacing and a backstory that isn’t spoon-fed to the audience. Its 1970s setting was purposely done for the sake of having a year in which Halloween fell on a Monday during the ‘sweeps’ week (a week in which TV execs need to attract large audiences and make money through advertising), and it gives the film that wonderful vibe of late-night television back when things were a little more risqué after dark, as well as the opening of a ‘window’ to the supernatural that Halloween provides. It all lends the film its B-movie feel, and it gets it just right.

Continuing on with the setting, the production is distinctly 70s in its colour palette and set design, as well as the costumes and the use of prosthetics and puppetry (mixed in with some modern CGI and a little controversial AI). The Night Owls set has that small, almost claustrophobic feel that some talk shows had in the past, that were probably meant to feel more ‘cosy’ than claustrophobic, but for the sake of Late Night, it certainly makes it feel more claustrophobic and inescapable. The film does a great job of emanating the talk show stage, and one does feel present in the audience, making the events all the more creepy. The fact that some of the characters are loosely based on real people also grounds it somewhat in reality.

Dastmalchian really steals the show as the enigmatic Jack Delroy, with his versatility and stage presence making him a convincing talk show host. It is mainly his POV through which we are guided through the show and the events that occur, and his reactions work perfectly to assist the audience in suspending their disbelief. Gordon’s performance is a little flat at times, but her character’s purpose is mainly as a support to the more intriguing character of Lily, played by Torelli. Hers is an understated performance that grows into something more intense, which works well considering what Lily is supposed to have been through and continues to experience. Bliss excellently plays a sceptic, the kind of character we dislike for debunking the supernatural, but who we also kind of pine for, as the horror grows and we wish for it to be fake. Other supporting performances work well to build the suspense and drop hints as the movie progresses.

If you are a horror fan, I highly recommend Late Night with the Devil. I entirely agree with Stephen King’s assessment of the end of the movie, in which “results may vary”, meaning some will like it, some will not (entirely like the author’s own infamous endings in his novels). I’m a little on the fence about it, but the journey of the movie was worth it either way. I was shocked and creeped out, but I also enjoyed the characters and the plot. It is currently only available via Shudder, the horror movie streaming service, but it does offer a free trial, and it’s worth it for this movie (and others, which you can find out about in the upcoming Terror Tapes section of Dawn of the Tapes).