Year: 2023	Studio: Shudder
Director: Colin & Cameron Cairnes	Runtime: 93 minutes

It seems appropriately fitting that the first film covered on this site would offer an almost nostalgic view of the widespread fascination and fear that accompanied the supposed rise of occultism and devil worship in America in the 1970s – the so-called “satanic panic”. As the film states at the outset, that fear and outrage amounted to nothing more than a compendium of ignorant, bible-thumping paranoia and misinformation.

As I’m writing this, I find myself, and our country as a whole, in a very similar predicament. The overwhelming majority of Americans seem to believe the devil has, once again, descended upon the minds and invaded the hearts of impressionable children all over the country (mostly in the fiendish form of higher education, social programs, and civil liberties), while the lower percentage are seeing rights and opportunities vanish before their very eyes. They say history repeats itself, and we certainly have a knack for making sure it keeps that follow-up appointment.

Late Night With the Devil charts the career path of radio personality turned late night television host, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), whose talk show, “Night Owls with Jack Delroy”, routinely finishes second to Johnny Carson in the ratings. Struggling to keep afloat after the tragic death of his beloved wife, Jack concocts a special Halloween episode hoping the gimmick will drum up a huge audience and save his show. The episode aired on October 31st, 1977, and the resulting film is that original taped episode spliced together with black-and-white “behind the scenes” footage to give us a complete picture of the night as it unfolds.

On a formal level, this is a fun concept. Writer/Director’s Colin and Cameron Cairnes placed the emphasis on authenticity in their re-creation of a 1970s television broadcast, complete with all the familiar characters and anachronistic touches (equipment, transitions, title cards). And, for the most part, they’re successful.

Mostly.

The black-and-white footage, while compelling and necessary for much of the on-air antics, are a little formally distracting. Not because they’re poorly done, they’re just not organic to the film’s conceit. Throughout the night, we are privy to intimate conversations between several members of the cast, crew, and production team. Naturally, as events transpire on-air, these interactions begin to heat up.

Now, I think it’s fair to assume there wouldn’t have been a handheld-style camera following these people around backstage to catch the off-air drama of a floundering late night talk show in the 1970s. And the trouble is, these scenes are crucial to making this type of structure work. They flesh out the relationships and contain important pieces of information that facilitate the drama occurring on-stage. Which makes the formal choice a bit more distracting. I appreciate the attempt to create a thorough account of the evening, but the way the scenes are presented feels like a narrative cheat and stylistically out of place with their approach to the film.

That being said, the backstage moments allow us a glimpse into the world of the enigmatic characters they’ve concocted, and to get to know them.

The guest list for this occult-themed extravaganza pits a cheap psychic, a Stanford educated parapsychologist and novelist, and a mysterious young cult survivor against a pompous, deep-pocketed, eye-rolling skeptic hellbent on debunking the “frauds” and thus proving his superiority. As it turns out, there’s a little surprise for every guest before the night is over.

I was reading up on the making of the film and learned that, in fact, most of the characters are proxies of real-life counterparts who appeared on late night talk shows of the era. So, all due credit to the filmmakers for doing the research. There’s even a running gag about a psychic named “Miss Cleo”, whose name certainly rings a bell. Being a child of the ’80s, I have no reference point for many of the personalities, so they could have phoned it in and people like myself wouldn’t know the wiser. Always appreciate the hustle.

HOWEVER…

If I’m going to laud the aesthetic touches that give the film its period-accurate look, I also have to bring up the AI controversy. While used minimally in the film, this falls in the supremely disappointing column. According to the filmmakers, they “experimented” with the new technology in three scenes, consisting of the interstitials that segue the show into and out of commercial breaks.

From a moral standpoint, this is very unfortunate and something of a head-scratcher. The surefire highlights of the movie are the authentic sets and costume design. 1970s America had a look and a feel that was kind of…gross? And I think they nailed it. Not that the film looks gross, mind you. Though, the yellow and brown hues do give off an intestinal waste vibe.

But the problem is, when you’ve done the research and poured so much care and attention into the minute details to bring this time in American history to life, including costumes, hairstyles, sets, props, etc, what’s the benefit of cutting the corner for three measly shots? I can’t think of anything more technologically and conceptually contrapuntal to this film’s conceit than using artificial intelligence to generate cheap visual effects intended to look like they were ripped right out of the 1970s.

Before you ask, “What’s the big deal if they’re used minimally and on images not central to the narrative?” – This was likely a cost cutting decision. A measure was taken to artificially create graphics for this film so they didn’t have to pay an artist to do the job. How long will it take for that number to jump from three images to five? Or ten?

It’s more disappointing than anything, and I’m not vilifying the film or its creators for it. Perhaps the Cairnes’ were in a pinch and used the technology in an effort to save time. None of us know because none of us were there when it happened. But as I mentioned earlier, there are more than a few parallels to the current predicament our country is in, and writing off small, seemingly insignificant indiscretions is a recipe for future disaster.

Another notable takeaway from the film – David Dastmalchian is a supremely talented actor. Aside from adopting a totally believable television host persona, which often swings into parody in the wrong hands, he deftly balances a range of character and narrative arcs within that visage. In one moment he’s a hokey, not-so-terribly funny but mildly charismatic television host, the next he’s a compassionate husband grieving the loss of his beloved wife, and another he’s a frightened, desperate man losing a grip on his career and his life.

And he’s a wild card. The prologue offers glimpses of Jack’s life before his ascension to fame on late night television, which includes visits to a highly secret society called “The Grove”. I won’t go any further because it’s better to watch things unfold, but there are so many emotional shifts and twisting story beats that this thing could have fallen apart with a lesser actor.

Another aspect they got right is the broadcast, itself. It’s the meat of the film and, again, casting an actor like Dastmalchian is essential to building the action and relationships while also steering the audience through the various segments of the show. The sequences build and build, peeling a little layer back with each successive bit, frequently cutting to well-timed commercial breaks just before the lid pops off. There’s a good flow to it and before you know it, we’re in the climax.

If I have any narrative complaint about the film, it’s that it doesn’t get scary enough for the premise. There are a couple of pretty successful effects scenes that offer a taste of what could have been, and they do ramp up as the film builds towards its conclusion, but it just feels like they only scratched the surface with the potential of this premise. You can hear a whisper of dread and impending doom through most of the narrative, but it never gets loud enough to build ample tension for the climax. And that’s a shame because I liked the finale (even if there are some stylistic quibbles and unanswered questions), and felt it would have been more resonant with just a slightly better script.

All in all, I really enjoyed this trip back to the Halloween night, 1977. Now let’s get David Dastmalchian more leading roles.

Late Night With the Devil is available from various distributors on multiple physical media formats from these fine shops: DiabolikDVD – OrbitDVD – Deep Discount – Second Sight – Umbrella Entertainment