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Late Night with the Devil Proves an Interesting Experiment, but Little Else
Satanic Panic
April 3, 2024 at 11:30 AM
Shudder
2.5/5 stars
The term "analog horror" has really taken off in the last five years. The use of lo-fi, archaic video quality combined with disturbing and cryptic symbolism found its origins in online "creepypasta" but has risen to prominence in film with the unexpected success of Skinamarink.
This aesthetic is clearly what brothers Cameron and Colin Cairnes are striving for with their new film Late Night with the Devil and while the style makes for an interesting commentary on the exploitative nature of 20th century talk shows, as a horror film it leaves much to be desired.
Presented as the unaired Halloween episode of a struggling late night talk show in 1977, host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) promises a spooky good time when he interviews a psychic (Fayssal Bazzi), a paranormal debunker (Ian Bliss doing a terrific James Randi impersonation), and, most importantly, a parapsychologist (Laura Gordon) and a young girl (Ingrid Torelli) claiming to be a vessel for demonic entities. The show takes a horrifying turn when these guests turn out to be more than expected.
The filmmakers do a great job capturing the look and feel of 1970s television with the show itself, but the behind-the-scenes footage feels too staged to be authentic. And when the horror elements finally arrive, they are not as impactful as they could be and some visual effects look terribly dated (not surprising considering the film's budget, but it's still disappointing). The trashy television stuff is interesting but goes on so long that the scares almost feel like an afterthought. Ultimately the film is a nice experiment, but I wish they could have taken things further. Late Night with the Devil is currently in theaters and comes to Shudder next month.
Written and directed by: Cameron and Colin Cairnes // Starring: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Georgina Haig, Josh Quong Tart, Steve Mouzakis, and Michael Ironside // Shudder // 93 minutes // Rated R