Year of Release: 2023
Director: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes
Starring: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Georgina Haig, Josh Quong Tart, Steve Mouzakis, Paula Arundell, Tamala Shelton, Christopher Kirby, John Leary, Gaby Seow
Genre: Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review
"Late Night with the Devil" had its premiere in 2023 at the South by Southwest Film Festival where it was well received, eventually sending the film on a solid commercial run. The film follows the story of Jack Delroy, a fictional late night show host in the 1970s, who competes in ratings with The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson). We learn that Jack frequently attends "The Grove", an elite California camp for wealthy and powerful individuals, and that he has gone through a traumatic event with the recent death of his wife, Madeleine. Following her death he briefly disappeared, but reappears ready to continue with the show, even if the ratings remain low. The production team decides to do a special occult-related show for Halloween, and invites a self-proclaimed psychic and medium, Christou, alongside the debunker and former magician, Carmichael Craig, and also parapsychologist June Ross-Mitchell, who appears with one of her patients, a young girl by the name of Lilly, who is reportedly possessed by a demonic entity. The show gets started with Christou, who interacts with the audience, and makes some claims, something that Carmichael deems as staged. Things escalate when Christou projectile vomits a black liquid, and has to be rushed to the hospital. Jack is later informed that he died in the ambulance. Following the situation with Christou, Dr. June comes in with Lilly, and while initially reticent about letting Lilly go on and showcase the possession, Jack convinces her to do so. Lilly becomes possessed, levitates in her chair, and even indicates having met Jack before. Carmichael once again attempts to debunk the situation, with a case of mass hypnotism, until Lilly is once again possessed and things get out of control.
"Late Night with the Devil" is an unexpected surprise, a film that smartly brings to life a bygone era, all the while creating an environment dominated by unease and progressive dread. The writer/director team allow for the escalation of the horrific moments to occur, opting to do both scenario construction and a progressive disclosure of sorts, where we learn just enough about the characters, in order to better understand their motivations and how they've converged together. The film could have benefited a bit more of character development, particularly for Jack, June and some of the production team members, but the creative team provides just enough information so that these characters don't appear as flimsy clichés. By the time the more standard horror elements surface, the film does take a conventional take on the possession genre, but manages to do so within the finely crafted scenario they created (in this case the talk show of the late 70s). It's a film that benefits from a solid cast, in particular the always underrated David Dastmalchian, who finally has a lead role that showcases his immense talent, with good support from Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss and Rhys Austeri. The production team on this film is equally impressive, with highlights going to Matthew Temple's cinematography, Otello Stolfo's fantastic production design, and Steph Hooke's costume design. It's an intelligent film that seizes one's attention, with great attention to detail, even if it ties itself to some unnecessary clichés.
0 comments:
Post a Comment