Late Night with the Devil is a horror movie presented in the format of a 70s talk show - think in the same vein as Deadstream, or those webcam horror movies that popped off in the earlier 2010s.

This movie did receive a lot of flak for using AI art for the "Be right back" screen transitions - it would've cost them nothing to hire an artist especially since this movie had a **real** budget and not a shoestring. I still really enjoyed the film but think that was a terrible, stupid choice. The movie was shot in partnership with Australian cinema company VicScreen and a million others - the opening credits went on for like 10 minutes I swear.

Jack Delaney is a talk-show host who is trying to get good ratings for his show but he keeps falling behind other shows in the same era and ends up selling out and going down the Dr Phil / Eric Andre route where he starts doing steadily more unhinged things before finally, on Halloween, he sets up a spook-tacular episode featuring:
* Christou, a so-called spirit-communicator,
* Carmichael Haig, former illusionist and now-sceptic
* Dr June Ross-Mitchell, a parapsychologist
* And Dr June's subject, Lilly, a girl who was raised in a satanic cult around a demon named Abraxis

The pacing of this movie definitely, I felt, was a bit slow especially towards the middle and I felt like impatient for it to move on to the real meat of the story. I did like the story threads coming together, things popping up left and right with no way of it really being addressed. The spliced footage of backstage-tv production really helped to build the atmosphere and show how tense things were getting for the crew with this being their deciding show. I loved the practical effects and the final build-up in the climax was just intensely terrifying and fun to watch.

The musical snippets when returning to the show, pokey humour and very 70s vibe were fun but there wasn't much else to the show. The scenes where Jack cried were also pretty wooden. Still. Great film. Worth a watch.

Master of Mystery and Champion of Chills David Dastmalchian stars as the devilish Jack Delroy in this instant-classic masterpiece of horror cinema, where you can tell he feels right at home.
There has always been something uniquely captivating and almost nostalgic about the elusive truth behind the goings on in HollyWEIRD in the 60's and 70's. Several filmmakers have attempted to squeeze that gargantuan concept into their work in the decades since that mystery-shrouded era. But where other brilliant films like Bad Times at the El Royale and Under the Silver Lake feel safe gently poking around at the surface level, Late Night with the Devil takes a deep dive into the belly of the whale.
Something the film pulls off almost flawlessly is the tone of suspense throughout. From the opening moments, every scene builds upon the one before it in an ever-rising Shepard tone, growing louder and louder until the very end. It does this so well, it's almost like that feeling of suspense is still following you as you exit the theater.
It feels like this movie was hand-crafted for the midnight screenings experience. The atmosphere created by the idea that this is not fiction, but we are in fact watching the real master tapes from that night, those physical objects are playing in our projector right now, makes for a unique spooky experience. Do yourself a favor and watch Late Night with the Devil with all the lights off, don't pause it or get up to go to the bathroom. Just sit back and be taken in by the anomaly. Maybe Jack Delroy still has something to say to you.
To say much more really wouldn't do the film justice, I just can't recommend it enough. I know I already mentioned the incomparable David Dastmalchian, but the rest of the ensemble cast deserves their flowers too, especially Ingrid Torelli, who gives one of the best and most unsettling horror performances ever as the possessed Lilly. I hope you enjoy Late Night with the Devil as much as I did ...

SO IT IS DONE

Got a really great concept and is executed well. My biggest disappointment is it didn’t fully commit to the found footage late night tv concept and felt the exposition scenes and side stuff that wasn’t scenes of the live tv night itself not only wasn’t necessary but made the movie worse and more messy. Acting across the board is excellent. The director definitely understood what makes this concept great and executed that vision well. I really dug the 70s found footage late night television aesthetic. Unfortunately the third act gets a bit messy and didn’t quite land for me. But I’ll always give a film props for trying to do something more original. Just wish they fully committed and realised that the best the film has to offer is the all the live tv sections and not the extra stuff around it. I liked the tv breaks in black and white scenes because it added colour and context to the happenings of the story and the relationships between the characters and that is honestly the best way to show us that and not the prologue or detour we take in the last 10 minutes. I honestly do wonder if originally it was written without the extra stuff but then they did re shoots and added it in as it seemed to me the break scenes almost re explained what we knew from the prologue. Would have been better to just cut it and let us learn from the characters interactions. Overall though great unique concept horror film. But not quite brilliant.