Late Night With the Devil (2023) Original?

Late Night With the Devil (2023) is not quite blazingly original. Is it good? Oh yes. Just not goose pimply good. Having a evil deity take over a talk show was introduced by Takashi Miike back in 2003.

But.

iconic

Miike’s film One Missed Call featured a brilliant scene where a young girl and the talkshow cast, are violently (And bloodily; this is Takashi Miike after all.) taken over by an evil spirit. Just as Late Night With the Devil is taken over by a demon. What is different here in 2023, the build up is done well.

The build up for One Missed Call was brilliant. I defy anyone who has seen the film to not inadvertently shiver when the ringtone plays out.

Granted, the body count for the 2003 Japanese horror film, AKA J-Horror talk show scene was small. But the incident of the evil spirit invading the talk show world was memorable.

back to the movie

There is, however, a lot to be said at this Late Night With the Devil offering. The film’s directors/creators Cameron and Colin Cairnes have done everything possible to make this horror film a hit.

The setting alone; 1977 is beyond perfect. The 1970’s was full of “new world” philosophy and new age creeds. Anton LaVey and his “Church of Satan,” Rosemary’s Baby (1968) was still very much on America’s collective consciousness and 1973, just four short years before this movie’s setting, saw The Exorcist. William Peter Blatty tapped into the American paranoia so deeply that not only did his novel take off, the film based upon it skyrocketed.

*Sidenote: Due to age restrictions, I had to wait until 1976 to watch The Exorcist in the local Malco cinema. It scared the dickens out of me. The fear was not so much the entire “gross out” scenes, but the subliminal undertow that invaded you like a subtle hammer. *

The ’70s with its whole “God is dead” and there is no devil is indeed the perfect breeding ground for demon focused horror. The Cairnes have, in my humble opinion, captured this perfectly with Late Night With the Devil.

*Sidenote #2: The late ’70s also saw an uprising of America finding out about devil worship groups. These dark worshipers were said to be making human sacrifices and stealing or abusing our children. This movement of abject paranoia lasted until the mid to late ’80s.

late night with the devil

David Dastmalchian plays the Johnny Carson “wannabe” meticulously. His delivery, the golf swing and his combination Doc Severinsen/Ed McMahon (Gus McConnell – played by expertly Rhys Auteri) sidekick literally scream his intention to be the next Johnny C.

Dastmalchian can boast of a long career playing those “not so” normal folks in almost every project he has acted in. I will pull no punches here, I adore this man and what he brings to any movie. Sadly though, it is Antman and the Wasp that I think of every single time I see David.

“Baba Yaga”

This time, however, he leaves those “weird” roles behind to capture the essence of a late night talk show host in over his head.

Video courtesy of Moo Cli over on YouTube.

Touches of the exorcist

There are of course touches of William Peter Blatty’s possession book on offer. Plus, the whole film ties into the Halloween holiday. It is a smart move as it allows us to tune into the “feels” of the season. There are also oblique references to The Bohemian Club that add to the unsettling atmosphere.

kudos

The following folks have earned beaucoup kudos for their part in Late Night With the Devil: Matthew Temple; his cinematography was spot on. The Cairnes’ again for their tight editing effort. Shout out to Aussie actor Ingrid Torelli in the “Regan” role, aka Lilli.

In fact, the entire cast knock this one out of the park:

Late Night With the Devil earns a full 5 stars. With shades of Faust or even, arguably a bit of a stretch, Aleister Crowley, this tale will, at the very least make the viewer feel uncomfortable. It is currently streaming on Shudder. Turn all the lights on, or off depending on your state of mind, and watch this one.

You will not regret it.

While the film may owe much to other horror films, it manages to entertain the heck out of the audience. Goosebumps, not quite. Scary? Oh yes indeed.

One last thing: This is, subtly, classified as a found footage horror film, but it surpasses the usual mediocrity of this overdone genre. Dastmalchian grabs this one with his fists and wrings out changes that are darn near perfect.

the trailer