Funereal Plots
Horror Cinema reviews
Matthew M. Bartlett
Late Night With the Devil
Writers/Directors – Colin and Cameron Cairnes
Like Antrum, another recent found footage gem, Late Night With the Devil opens with a documentary-style prologue that effectively sets the stage—the turbulent 1970’s as documented on television—and sets up the concept: Late Night up-and-comer Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian, exquisitely essaying ingratiating and needy), the host of a show entitled Night Owls, is a member of a mysterious men’s only group for the powerful and the ambitious. His beloved wife, a nonsmoker, dies of lung cancer, and his show struggles for viewers. In a bid for ratings, trying to save the show, he plans an occult-themed Halloween special, its centerpiece a purportedly possessed young women. The plan is that he will attempt to interview the demon who’s possessed her.
Most of the remainder of the movie consists of the talk show itself, along with backstage footage. We meet Delroy’s affable sidekick (Rhys Auteri, wonderfully watchable) and sit through a mercifully brief monologue. Then Delroy brings on his first guest – Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), a medium who claims he can summon the spirits of the dead, which he attempts, working the crowd with intriguing results. The next guest, Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss, intense and amusing) is a former magician and professional skeptic, who arrogantly attempts to debunk Christou’s performance and receives for his trouble a fusillade of black ichorous vomit from the latter, who’s been stricken by a vengeful spirit whose provenance is as yet unknown.
The movie kicks into high gear as Delory introduces a film clip that provides key details about the possessed girl—found alive after the mass-suicide of a cult that’s sort of like devil-worshiping Branch Davidians, led by an Anton LaVey-esque figure with the pitch-perfect moniker Szandor D’Abo. Then we are introduced to Lilly and the author of the book about her (Ingrid Torelli and Laura Gordon, respectively). Torelli plays Lilly to the hilt, staring oddly at the camera and slyly taunting Delory, all while maintaining a faux-innocent charm—it’s a balancing act that pays off perfectly. A bravura performance.
To say too much more would be to head into spoiler territory. Suffice it to say that the movie escalates like a jetliner taking off, culminating in not one but two jaw-dropping, explosive set pieces, and an eerie denouement that ties everything together even as it gloriously and brazenly abandons the movie’s found-footage premise.
Late Night with the Devil does struggle a little with pacing as the show opens, and the backstage footage strains the suspension of disbelief, but these are minor quibbles. Altogether the movie has a lot of fun with its premise—a refreshing respite from the string of dour, plodding horror flicks that seem all too prevalent these days. The men’s group footage, with its eerie costumery and strange rituals, scratches the folk-horror itch, and the devil-cult footage is fantastically lurid. Strange, costumed figures peppered throughout the audience, and brief, sly glimpses of a creepy glowing figure keep you searching the screen for clues. Nods to The Exorcist, Sybil, Rosemary’s Baby, and even Halloween 3 enliven the proceedings. The sets, costume, and hair are immaculately ‘70s, unlike a lot of period pieces that miss the mark by going too over-the-top or anachronistic. You’ll nod with grateful recognition at the house band’s familiar ‘70s musical cues.
I strongly recommend Late Night with the Devil. Minor issues with pacing and verisimilitude aside, it’s a tremendously satisfying, over the top horror confection with a fine sense of humor. It’s a blast to watch, rewarding repeated viewings, and it sticks the landing. You can’t ask for much more.
