Late Night With the Devil (2023) Review

There was one reason and one reason alone I was excited about Late Night With the Devil. And that was because it reminded me of Ghostwatch. Broadcast on Halloween 1992 on BBC1, the supposedly live investigation into paranormal activity in a suburban family home was actually a cleverly crafted mockumentry and it absolutely terrified me.

Expertly constructed and perfectly presented by famous TV personalities of the time, the special was quite rightly compared to Orson Welles’ 1938 The War of the Worlds radio broadcast – seeing as both completely blindsided their audiences who fell for the facade causing mass confusion and lots of complaints.

Following the same setup as Ghostwatch and movies like Haunted Ulster Live and Give Me Pity!, which take the found footage format to the small screen, Late Night With the Devil written and directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes appears to be a legendary lost episode of a late-night talk show from all hallows eve 1977 that went horribly wrong.

Opening with documentary stylings and voice-over we learn all about the chat show Late Nite and its host Jack Delroy (Dune and The Dark Knight’s David Dastmalchian), a man who is dedicated to gaining fame whatever the cost.

Following the traditional 70’s hallmarks of programs from the period such as Johnny Carson with interviews, music and silly sketches we hear that Late Nite failed to get the audiences and praise Jack wanted.

After tragedies in his own life including loosing his wife to terminal lung cancer, the presenter started to deliberately court controversy in a desperate bid for ratings culminating in the Halloween special we are about to see.

At this point the film then shifts to display the master tape of what went to air that night, which is presented with previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage. We open on Jack in the studio in front of a live fancy dress filed audience bantering with his band leader Gus (Rhys Auteri) ready to get things started.

The episode is packed with spooky features, starting with psychic Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) whose powers seem slightly temperamental, shifting from flat and failed predictions to a strange moment where he is overcome with pain and an eerie energy – this leads him to drop his accent and his act until the spirit who is contacting him has passed.

The next guest is Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss from Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions), an ex-magician now on a mission to debunk and expose any and all fake supernatural experts and performers. Calling out Christou and explaining the tricks of the trade, things take another turn when the enraged stage psychic starts uncontrollably vomiting black bile causing the broadcast to have to go to commercials.

Informed by his producer that the ratings are climbing – but not high enough – Jack decides to go all-out convincing his next guest to perform a live demon summoning on his show. She’s a parapsychologist who has written a book entitled ‘Conversations with the Devil’ about a young girl called Lilly (Ingrid Torelli), who she saved from a Satanic church. She now strongly believes that Lilly is possessed by an evil force.

Nervous at first, the doctor June Ross-Mitchel (Saw V’s Laura Gordon) is encouraged by her young charge Lilly, who is keen to give the crowd and sceptic Carmichael a look at her friend ‘Mr Wriggles’ who lives inside her. From here, Late Nite descends into darkness as the guests and viewers start to have trouble differentiating what’s real and what’s fake, and what they should find funny from what should paralyse them with fear.

Although entertaining throughout and featuring a truly spectacular and terror-ridden finale, sadly Late Night With the Devil fails on too many fronts to call it a classic horror. And what’s worse is, all the errors could have been easily avoided.

Importantly, considering the film wants its audience to think it’s real, it does a very bad job at simulating several key historical elements that a show from the 70’s should have. Compared to the ultra-low budget grime of Give Me Pity! which was a far superior and surreal shocker following the same fake TV format, Late Night With the Devil looks much too crisp and clean to be set in the 70’s as if it was shot on modern HD cameras.

There are a few moments that feel real, especially in the Conversations with the Devil trailer which precedes Lily and Doctor June’s introduction, and although the film does employ some practical effects it often uses computer generated elements which stick out like a very modern very high tech sore thumb.

As the insanely talented Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have proven on 4 separate occasions during the 8 season run of anthology series Inside Number 9, details are important. Across the episodes Seance Time, The Devil of Christmas and the fantastic 3×3, a fake general knowledge quiz show that was deliberately advertised as decoy episode to confuse viewers further, the duo have proven that keeping to the stylings and cliches of whatever format and period you are parodying always heightens the horror.

Late Night With the Devil inserts black and white behind the scenes moments, which offer private conversations between the crew and talent while the advert breaks run, all shot with hand held cameras and edited together seamlessly. This completely ruins the movie’s main idea, as there is no possible way they could have been filmed at the time. These moments take you totally out of the experience, and coupled with some of the stagey and stale acting, the power the film had in its pretence is weakened even further.

Again returning to Inside Number 9 and their Ghostwatch inspired Halloween fake live special ‘Dead Line’, all the behind-the-scenes sections were seen from security camera footage or TV cameras left unmanned and switched on, giving credence to everything we saw and increasing the creep factor.

Ultimately it feels like the Cairnes brothers are simply not committed to their own concept, and are much more concerned with a neat and tidy story – something that all the best found-footage films lack, because as we all know, reality doesn’t always make sense.

Without its hook, the other weaknesses of Late Night With the Devil are laid bare, with many of its scares not landing. Many if its set-ups seeming too predictable and its characters, far too cliched.

Being a fan of this style of horror and having watched a host of great examples, I was hugely disappointed in Late Night With the Devil, but perhaps I am being too harsh a critic. Competently made and with a satisfyingly chilling climax, its not all negative news and there are many who will enjoy this horror, simply for what it is. I guess I’m just not one of them.

Late Night With The Devil will be in UK Cinemas from 22nd March

Movie Rating:

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