Originally, I had intended to watch something different for this third film review of the week. The screener link didn't work, which as the rules of my blog that I follow meant that instead I would watch something of my own choosing. I have wanted to watch Late Night with the Devil for some time, with one of the barriers to entry being that the only place I could find it was on Shudder which I hadn't a subscription for. This found footage takes the form of a special documentary put out about a night time talk show host from the 1970's who became infamous after a terrifying 1977 Halloween special that shocked the nation. As part of the documentary, the recording of the infamous episode long believed lost has been recovered and included in full.
Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian - Oppenheimer, The Suicide Squad) is a late night talk show host whose show, 'Night Owls', is at threat of being cancelled due to a year of plummeting ratings. For his Halloween special he has something special planned, he has invited onto the show a teenage girl, Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) who is said to be possessed by a demon. Thinking it will be a boost to his ratings, Jack plans to summon the demon live on TV, this turns out to be a very bad idea...
Late Night with the Devil begins like a typical found footage, a faux documentary setting up both the protagonist, Jack, as well as the history of his show, 'Night Owls', before heading in to show the rediscovered episode in real time. It doesn't take long to see that this never fully conforms to the tropes of the sub-genre, instead there are plenty of moments that take place that wouldn't be found footage, but is still presented as that way. These include black and white interludes that has Jack backstage during ad-breaks discussing how the show is going, though it is the final act where things really begin to swivel away from found footage. While still shot in the same way, this final ten to fifteen minutes takes a big step away from the format, something that I have heard complaints about online, but I think it works.
There is something already creepy about the low-quality camera footage of the 1970's, and here this is stuck to throughout, making for something that felt genuine. With three key guests on the show there is a a decent pacing to the unfolding terror. First there is spirit medium Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) who is a bit of a comedic character to begin with due to his blatant lack of real powers, but this part begins the horror to come. A key character is hypnotist and paranormal sceptic Carmichael Haig who serves as a human antagonistic force, convinced that all the apparent supernatural goings-on are fabricated by Jack to get ratings. Then there is creepy Lilly and her doctor (and Jack's secret love interest), June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon - Saw V) which is where the madness really begins. Jack was probably my favourite character, despite him having to be 'in character' as the talk show host, you get a lot from his neutral yet somewhat fake and smarmy position. The behind the scenes moments during ad-breaks show his obsession with getting the highest ratings, as well as his relationship with work colleagues and guests.
Of course, this isn't the first found footage that has gone for a live-TV show theme. WNUF Halloween Special did something very similar in 2013 (though went for a more comedic vibe), and even comedy horror TV show Inside No.9 did something similar in it's season 8 episode '3 by 3'. Throughout, I was hooked with the format here, and I liked how the feeling of oncoming danger ramped up over the ninety minutes run time. As unexpected as the switch from realistic found footage to traditional horror presented as found footage was, I felt this was one of the weaker parts of the film, even if it was handled well. The only real concessions to the budget were some CG effects that didn't really fit in with the grainy look of the show, a little too clean looking, leading me to ever so briefly be drawn out of the movie when they happened.
That the majority of the story in Late Night with the Devil takes place in real time was an impressive feat. The gentle start of corny scripted jokes between Jack and his crew, then devolving to increasing out of control chaos as the show went on was very well done. There are some interesting ideas here, the middle act involving a mass hypnotism was cleverly presented and wild, while characters were always used intelligently to move on the story and set-up future story bears. Late Night with the Devil can currently be streamed on Shudder.
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