Late Night with the Devil

Directors: Colin and Cameron Cairnes
Starring: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Georgina Haig, Josh Quong Tart, Steve Mouzakis, Michael Ironside
Running Time: 93 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

When actor David Dastmalchian momentarily drew attention away from Heath Ledger with his brief part as Joker's cackling, schizophrenic henchman in 2008's The Dark Knight, it was a reminder how even the smallest of roles can make a lasting impression. A few superhero movies later and we'd get a name to match the face, but it was his film debut that forced viewers to sit up and take notice. He wasn't the Joker, but it only took him a single scene to convince he easily could have been. 

Now after steadily impressing for sixteen years in valuable supporting roles, Dastmalchian carries Colin and Cameron Cairnes' supernatural horror film, Late Night with the Devil as its lead. Front and center the whole way through, he captures a flawed, fame hungry TV host plagued by personal demons, emotionally drowning in an exploitive, circus-like exhibition of his own doing. He and the startlingly authentic production design and practical effects suck you in, with the picture making the most of its found footage approach to put a wild twist on the exorcism genre.

After a documentary prologue delves into an unexplainably gruesome event that occurred during 1977's live broadcast of the late-night talk show Night Owls with Jack Delroy, we're shown the master tape of this infamous episode, complete with behind the scenes footage. Consistently losing the ratings battle with The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the show's host Jack (Dastmalchian) desperately needs a hook to capture audience attention. His solution is an occult-themed Halloween episode featuring psychic spiritual medium Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), magician turned professional skeptic Carmichael Hayes (Ian Bliss) and parapsychologist/author June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), who's joined by 13-year-old mass suicide survivor Lilly (Ingrid Torelli). 

As the pompous Hayes attempts to expose the other guests as frauds, June reluctantly agrees to conjure the demon inside Lilly, with volatile results. Pressured by the network to go even further, a shaken Jack relies on his sidekick Gus (Rhys Auteri) to get through it, risking potential catastrophe and death for the ratings bump that could save his job. But with Jack still mourning the recent loss of wife Madeleine (Georgina Haig) to cancer and facing increased media scrutiny for his ties to a mysterious men's retreat, he hasn't a clue of the horror about to be unleashed into this studio.    

The opening documentary-style narration provided by Michael Ironside expertly sets the stage for the kind of recognizably retro programming we'll get, showing a lighthearted show montage of Jack goofing around with various guests, from singers to animal experts. But then it goes a few steps further, recounting his bumpy road to the top, which is peppered with public controversies that plant the seeds for what's coming. 

It's immediately evident why Jack's getting crushed by Carson in the ratings, as the filmmakers achieve an enviable feat of depicting a somewhat cheesy show that's just good enough to stay afloat but remains a far cry from its primary competitor. And Dastmalchian has to walk that similar tightrope as a host whose superficially likable and funny at points, but mostly a guilt-ridden, insecure imposter captaining this damaged ship right into the iceberg that will be the show's final episode.

Much of the rapidly accelerating tension revolves around Jack knowing more than he's letting on and  the sacrifices he made for this episode to happen. The definitive answer lies with young Lilly, but the screenplay's ingenuity is in how it builds to her big showcase by rolling out and developing the other supporting players over the course of this hour. 

Once all the pieces are in place, this fictitious program becomes the kind of addictive television you'd believe would have viewers glued to their seats. Jack urging June to conjure this satanic entity out of Lilly opens Pandora's box, with Ingrid Torelli giving off creepy M3GAN vibes in a performance that fluctuates between childlike innocence and repressed, uncontrollable rage. Ultimately though, it's her calmness that leaves the most unnerving impression. 

Bloviating skeptic Hayes pours gasoline onto an already volatile situation in his mission to expose what he perceives are mere parlor tricks. With condescending gusto, actor Ian Bliss seems to be channeling Orson Welles' legendary 70's talk show appearances, as the ex-magician condescendingly needles the three guests from his bully pulpit. The further he goes, the more Jack pressures Joan to push Lilly, hoping to disprove him. While we know the results will be catastrophic, seeing exactly how is another experience altogether.

Watching, it's hard not to draw parallels with Christine, the 2016 drama focusing on events surrounding the on-air suicide of a Florida news reporter in 1974. While taking a similar found footage route with that story would have been tasteless given the real life circumstances, it's worth noting how this deals with the premise of live TV tragedy. A Twilight Zone-inspired morality play about selling your soul, the creativity of Late Night with the Devil comes in its execution, which should help ensure its extended shelf life for many Halloweens to come.