A creepy thrill ride worth tuning into
Late-night talk shows are all pretty samey, thanks to repeated guests from other programmes regaling the same old stories we have heard them speak about before. It’s difficult to be original, which is the problem faced by this movie’s failing talk show host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchin) whose show is slipping in the ratings thanks to Johnny Carson netting a bigger audience pull.
To boost his numbers, Jack hosts a Halloween special that includes a psychic, a debunking sceptic, and a teenage girl who claims to be possessed by the devil. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot, considering his young guest is asked to introduce the audience to Mr. Wriggles, the rather cutesy name for the evil entity that is living inside her.
But before all hell, quite literally, breaks loose, we hear from Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), the psychic who manages to connect with Jack’s dead wife. We also get a lot of withering comments from sceptical debunker Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss), who accuses the psychic of using age-old methods to fool his audience.
When psychiatrist Dr. June (Laura Gordon ) brings out the dark side of Lily (Ingrid Torelli), a girl who could give Carrie White goosebumps, Carmichael accuses the show of elaborate party tricks when strange occurrences begin to manifest.
A possessed teen is one hell of a way to trump Johnny Carson so Jack makes no attempt to stop the show when the night starts to go badly wrong. As things go from bad to worse for the audience, Jack, and his resident on-stage team, the movie becomes increasingly frightening as a consequence.
Sadly, directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes (100 Bloody Acres) don’t know when to quit, so when the horrors build to a terrifying crescendo, with a perfect way to end the film, they introduce a flashback element that brings the whole frightening shebang to a standstill with a slightly confusing climax. This is a pity as everything before that point was gripping and suspenseful.
Despite this misstep, the rest of the movie is well done, with a live broadcast set-up that makes us think we’re watching a genuine late-night chat show from the 1970s. We could very well be the audience at home that Jack refers to when speaking to the camera, so this has the capacity to draw us into the horrific series of events that unfold on screen.
When Jack cuts to commercial breaks, the illusion is broken, as we then get shaky black-and-white footage of Jack and his crew getting ready for the next on-air segment. This doesn’t reduce the tension, however, as there is still an ominous feel to the film when we hear background chatter that eludes to certain terrible events that have happened off-camera.
Dastmalchian is excellent as the grieving host, expertly oozing the smarminess that is present in a lot of real-life talk show hosts. Credit must also go to Rhys Auteri as Jack’s sidekick Gus, a put-upon man who plays along with Jack’s Halloween shenanigans with wit and charm, despite being fearful of everything that is going on around him.
One of the best performances comes from Ingrid Torelli as Lily. She’s menacingly sweet in the run-up to her big moment on screen and then just plain menacing when she’s encouraged to switch to her demonic side. Note to all talk show hosts: If your guest has the kind of stare that could pierce into a person’s soul and then suck it out from their writhing body, cut their segment short. You’ll thank us later!
Late Night With the Devil is a creepy and suspenseful film that does much to hold the attention for the majority of the running time. The 70s chat show set-up is perfectly evoked and the line-up of guests that Jack interviews are never less than interesting. There’s one particular scene near the end of the film that is guaranteed to give you a case of the chills – it’s a genuinely scary moment that might well give you nightmares.
The film is one of the better Shudder releases of recent times, so can be recommended. It’s certainly better than watching an actual talk show littered with celebrity guests filling up airtime with their tedious anecdotes.
Read More: Late Night With the Devil Ending Explained
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10