Late Night With The Devil Movie Review

Today on the blog, we have a guest movie review by horror writer Michael Errol.

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Now, let’s see what Michael had to say about this new release…

Late Night with the Devil is a horror film directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes and starring David Dastmalchian that was released on March 22, 2024. Set in the 1970s, it recreates the time period quite well and was carefully crafted to look like either a found footage film, or a lost documentary.

It follows the main character, Jack Delroy, who leads a late-night talk show that rivals Johnny Carson. His wife, Madeleine, is diagnosed with cancer after Jack makes a deal with a demon to be the number one talk show at a meeting for a secret society, and soon after her death, the show starts to go downhill.

Faced with declining ratings, Delroy must take drastic measures to increase viewership in order to stay on the air. On the Halloween episode of the talk show in 1977, they invite Lily, a young girl who is allegedly possessed by a demon onto the show along with her caretaker, a parapsychologist who attempts to help her control the demon. They also invite a skeptic who attempts to discredit her at every turn. As the broadcast progresses and the tension mounts, it begins to go horribly wrong, and the caretaker loses control of Lily and the demon.

The film was decently made, although it felt empty, like something was missing. The pace was incredibly slow, and the performances were a little over the top and left a lot to be desired, apart from Dastmalchian, whose brilliant performance made the movie much better than it was. The film tries hard to be scary, especially at the end when the action finally starts and viewers get a bit of satisfying horror imagery, but it still seemed like the same cheesy demonic possession scene that we have all seen before.

The big twist at the end came as no surprise. I had it figured out early on in the movie. Late Night with the Devil was a solidly made, yet mostly boring film that tried too hard to be better than what it was.

I gave it a 5/10 based mostly on the strength of David Dastmalchian’s performance.

About the reviewer:

Michael Errol is a budding horror author and freelance film and book reviewer from Northeast Oklahoma. After a brief fantasy writing career in his youth, he has returned and after a 25+ year hiatus was compelled to return to his love of writing and currently focuses on horror.