REVIEW: Late Night with the Devil [2024]

Rating: R | Runtime: 93 minutes
Release Date: March 22nd, 2024 (USA)
Studio: IFC Films / Shudder
Director(s): Cameron Cairnes & Colin Cairnes
Writer(s): Cameron Cairnes & Colin Cairnes

Dreamer, here awake.

As Michael Ironside narrates from the top, Late Night with the Devil is positioned as a recently unearthed 1977 master tape (with questionably described “behind-the-scenes” footage that desperately needed someone to put a hand up to the lens at some point to pretend a camera was actually “there”) of the craziest live event to ever be broadcast across American airwaves. Filmmakers Colin and Cameron Cairnes set-up the preamble as a means to remind us who Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) was—a sweetheart of a talk show host, aiming for Carson’s chair, whose “Night Owls” audience galvanized around him during the tragic death of his wife Maddie (Georgina Haig). Why did we so quickly forget about him then? Maybe because it was all an illusion.

Set on Halloween—and during sweeps week—you can guess things are going to go awry … in a bad way. Bad bad? Or bad good? That’s the question. Between Jack having a recently deceased wife, the show’s first guest being a medium, the promise of a “real” demonically possessed girl, and talk of a secret “Freemason” society, the potential to scare audiences into high ratings is real as long as the blood and guts being spilled on-stage is made of high fructose corn syrup. And while we can assume a lot of what is planned to happen is exactly that, planned, it’s not long before the script disappears. What will Jack do to secure his last shot at the big chair? What will he risk?

You can guess where things are going pretty quickly. This is a “real-time” movie that must make certain its puzzle pieces fit together without the need to explain why. The fun is therefore Jack’s response. What will he do when Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) goes off-book, eyes rolling to the back of his head? How about when Dr. Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) begs him not to make her put young Lily (Ingrid Torelli) into a trance? We’re watching Jack’s confusion increase at the same rate as his excitement because the possibilities bring dollar signs. Add pompous skeptic Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss) to try throwing wrenches into the chaos (if not making things creepier himself) and you know the finale will pay off.

It’s just a truly mesmerizing and memorable dance of the grotesque with awesome visual effects—practical and computer-based. (Talk about the Cairnes duo using AI recently has some people talking about boycott, but know they used it for three of the “vintage” interstitials. Should they have? No. Will it become a problem if they do it again? Yes. But don’t miss out on great hand-made effects because of it.) Some of the connections that need to be made for the final reveals are messy, but that truth doesn’t distract from the sheer fun and excitement of this impressively made indie. Great production design. Great performances (Dastmalchian, Bliss, and Torelli are highlights). And a great last hurrah.