written by Charles Elmore
Late Night With The Devil
written & directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes
Starring David Dastmalchian, ian Bliss, Laura Gordon & Ingrid Torelli
****THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS
Late Night with the Devil debuted in theaters this past spring as a standout entry in the found footage sub-genre of horror and has now found a home streaming on SHUDDER. Written and directed by sibling duo Cameron and Colin Cairnes, the film evokes a nostalgic, golden-age-of-television aesthetic, with creepy vibes reminiscent of a pre-Internet era when late-night programming and public access TV could send shivers down your spine. It’s an atmospheric horror piece, relying more on ambiance and clever scares than on overtly horrific acts.
Completed in 2023 and released in 2024, Late Night with The Devil stars a perennial that-guy David Dastmalchian, most recognizable as a frequent collaborator of Christopher Nolan and Denis Villenueve, who pops up in many movies like Dune, or the Ant-Man Series. Here he gets an opportunity as the lead and commands the entirety of this 93 minute high-wire act of genre film making. Dastmalchian gets to play a bit against his own type, as the straight man, although here, in specific terms, a straight man with more of a darker, more complex, nuanced to his background than say your typical Dick Snyder would be in a film like this.
The film also features Ingrid Torelli, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, and Faysal Bazzi, each playing pivotal roles in the nightmarish events that unfold. Bazzi’s Christou, a magician performing seemingly harmless parlor tricks, sets the stage for a dramatic confrontation with Torelli’s devil-possessed cult-survivor teen. Gordon’s character, Torelli’s psychologist, adds emotional depth, as all three characters spiral into the chaos that surrounds the infamous 1977 broadcast that led to the show's banishment from television.
The setup is reminiscent of occult-themed shows from the Sci-Fi Channel or USA Up All Night, introducing us to Jack Delroy, a late-night host with ambitions to rival Johnny Carson. Delroy’s failure to match Carson’s success pushes him to take more extreme measures to boost ratings, turning his show into something akin to The Jerry Springer Show, albeit with more sinister undertones. Dastmalchian’s portrayal mixes sincerity with desperation, perfectly capturing the slow unraveling of Delroy’s psyche as he chases fame.
Delroy's personal life mirrors his professional decline, as his wife, a Broadway actress, fades into the background of his rising career, ultimately succumbing to cancer. Simultaneously, Delroy’s involvement with a secretive, Masonic-like group adds layers to the story, as he seemingly strikes a Faustian bargain that only intensifies his eventual downfall.
The film reaches its climax on Halloween 1977, during a live broadcast meant to capitalize on “Sweeps week”, but instead, it unleashes unimaginable evil into homes across America. The Cairnes brothers' clever use of 1970s television technology and visual grammar adds a haunting realism to the events, reminiscent of the documentary-style aesthetics used in The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast.
Much like high water marks in the pseudo-doc and found footage genres like Cannibal Holocaust or Man Bites Dog, the film attempts to blurs the line between fiction and reality through various visual approximations to the media of the era. The unaired “broadcast” is shown in a low-res, 4x3 aspect ratio, capturing the fuzzy, overly-saturated look of 1970s CRT televisions, evelating the sensation that we are watching a lost artifact from cable access history. The filmmakers further employ a black-and-white documentary style from the same era, evoking the observational cinema of Pennebaker and the Maysles brothers, bringing to mind historical moments like the moon landing or Vietnam War footage. The contrast between these styles reflects the chaotic, unsettling events of the show’s taping.
The real power of Late Night with the Devil lies in its ability to make you question what’s real. The film teases viewers with a sense of verisimilitude—just enough for us to wonder, "Did this actually happen?" It taps into old urban legends, like the politician who shot himself on live TV, or the infamous tales of satanic panic in the ’70s and ’80s. This fine balance between reality and fiction is one of the film’s strongest qualities.
This is essentially a psychological horror as well. A movie where you're as much guessing if this could easily be a projection of the characters crumbling psyche as it is legitimately happening as depicted, as Rosemary says in Rosemary's Baby: “This is no dream. This is really happening.” And in the case of Late Night with the Devil a reality that leaves Delroy shattered by the end. Possession vs Hypnotism plays a heavily into the finale, percolating an intriguing side argument between hypnotism, at the hands of a master magician versus true genuine transmission and communication with an otherworldly, even spiritual presence - whether they be benevolent or benign- is an oftentimes interesting argument swirling around the margins of this horrific, terrifying, creepy slow-burn of moviemaking.
Interesting dialogs and conversations often bubble and fade at the edges of LNWTD, not just in the background of characters like the Floor Director or the Makeup Artist all the way up to how other characters motivations are revealed and connected to the finale. Back story constantly careens and crashes against each other as the moment of reckoning ticks closer with every toss to commercial break.
To me, what feels like the only note of deflation, my only disappointment with LNWTD -and most modern horror films like this - is that they could have gone harder into the horror of what leads to the confrontation. When the devil comes and a bill is due and a character must stand and face the receipt showing the basis, the origin, the genesis of that agreement could have gone shown us more, we could’ve seen more clearly the faustian bargain that Delroy is eluded to have made up in the secretive environs of the California redwoods.
I had hoped, by the time the camera pulls out to reveal the truth of what we've been witnessing for the last 20 minutes of Late Night with the Devil- In a year where movies are being noted for how great their final 30 minutes are, from the substance to late night with the devil to strange darling, that in the last several minutes of this film, when they could have clocked us with more gut punch psychology and pathos than gory thrills, instead simply deciding to just tie it all up everything nicely.
While Late Night with the Devil is masterfully crafted, my one disappointment is that the horror could have delved deeper. The film hints at a Faustian bargain, but we’re left wanting more detail and exploration of Delroy’s fateful deal with the devil. The film’s final 30 minutes, though satisfying, could have packed more psychological impact rather than tying things up neatly.
Late Night with the Devil is a fantastic entry in the found footage horror sub-genre. Cameron and Colin Cairnes, along with Dastmalchian’s standout performance, deliver a gripping film on par with The Blair Witch Project or Cannibal Holocaust. It’s only that, having seen so many predecessors, this viewer was left wanting just a bit more depth. I eagerly await more from the minds that brought this demented work to life.
-Charles Elmore