Categories
Film Reviews Horror

Late Night With The Devil (2024)

I wanted…..nay, I needed to start this year off with a bang. This movie had me hyped from the trailer. Then it got some good reviews. I have seen it once, and I am excited for this to be my second viewing.

The main star of the film is David Dastmalchian, who was in Dune, Suicide Squad, and Oppenheimer. He plays the role of Jack Delroy, the late-night TV show host. Laura Gordon plays June Ross Mitchell, and is maybe best known for her role in Saw V as Ashley. Ian Bliss is Carmichael Haig in this, and is probably best known as Bane in some of the later Matrix films. This isn’t a big-name cast, which is perfect for my tastes.

This is currently on Shudder and HULU. I’m trying a new mac n cheese from Walmart called Goodles, and it’s not bad. The cheese is a little stiff, but it’s a slightly different twist from Velveeta shells and cheese or generic knock-offs. I’ve already had some cereal. Let’s enjoy.

Start Film

Over a minute and a half of production company shit before the film starts. Giving me horror blue balls.

The TV show is called Night Owls, which premiered in 1971, and its host is Jack Delroy. He makes a Johnny Carson reference. This is like a retelling of the history of the series, showing the history and highlights of the show. Madeline Piper, Jack’s wife, is a theater actress. We also see lots of Gus McConnell, his stage manager or sidekick. Lots of Carson references. We learn that Madeline gets diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in September 1976, and then appears on Night Owls. Two weeks later, Madeline dies. Jack goes away for about a month, but then picks his show back up. Jack’s ratings can never catch up with Johnny, and the show starts getting more controversial, think of how the Jerry Springer went. Then came Halloween 1977, and that is what this film is really about.

On this episode, he has a very loaded lineup of guests. We have a psychic medium guy named Christou. Carmichael Haig appears to be a magician of sorts. Dr. June Ross Mitchell, with the subject of her new book, Lilly, and that’s really the big one. Cleo James, who is a jazz musician, and finally, a Halloween costume parade. Hopefully, that sets the stage. Gus is dressed like the devil, so I enjoyed that.

Is Christou supposed to be Middle Eastern or Latin? This is like John Edward in the South Park episode. The guy in the crowd, Barry, is quite funny. He does a reading with 2 ladies about a suicide. As Jack was trying to go to commercial break, Christou has an intense message from a Minnie. The power in the studio acts up. It was pretty intense.

Now, I have read people complain that they wouldn’t have recorded any footage while off the air. Okay…..but how do you know? This is a fake show, so maybe they have different standards. Were these complainers working in the industry at the time? Were there strict regulations? I doubt it. Furthermore, with it being one of their big special episodes of the year, maybe they record behind-the-scenes things. My point is, don’t listen to dumbass reviews that have no proof. I know I say this as a person reviewing this, but I at least encourage you to consider the possibilities. Finally, even if it was against all the standard practices, is THIS the thing you want to bitch about in a very good horror flick? I am practically a professional when it comes to bitching and nitpicking. This doesn’t complaint doesn’t belong on anyone’s radar, and I strongly encourage people to avoid allowing “professional” reviewers to influence your decision to watch or enjoy a movie. Back to the movie.

During the break, they ask Christou to stay, even though he is bleeding from his nose. His producer caused the electrical issues. Christou is sweating profusely and doesn’t look well.

We now meet the former Carmichael the Conjurer. Now he is also a well-known skeptic. He now works on the International Federation of Scientific Investigation into the Paranormal, IFSIP for short. Basically, they test and ghost hunt. Ed and Lorraine Warren are mentioned here. The organization will give 100 grand if they can prove their legitimacy. Christou starts choking a bit. Car really doesn’t buy into Christou’s act. Car calls Christou a charlatan, so he throws water into Car’s face. Jack admits that Minnie was actually a nickname for his wife. Car now offers half a million and Christou collapses and is spewing black shit, like The Ultimate Warrior when he feuded with Papa Shango. Car hassles Jack throughout the commercial break. Leo Friske is the Producer guy who keeps talking to Jack during breaks.

Back from the break, Car has hidden the half-million check in Jack’s jacket pocket. Next up with Dr. June and her book, Conversations With The Devil. We see a video about the First Church of Abraxas, which appears to be a Satanic Cult. There are stories of children being bred for human sacrifice. After a 3-day standoff, the main priest, D’Abo, commands his followers to set themselves ablaze. Lilly is the only survivor. We now hear snippets from the first sit-down interview between Lilly and June.

The ladies come out. Dr. June is pretty and Lilly seems to be fairly ordinary and happy. Lilly has a very interesting voice. She immediately brings up Madeline, but in a nice way. She is supposedly 13. She’s also Australian. Okay, she was born in 2006, so she is much older than her character. It’s like an 80s or 90s sitcom.

During the break, Lilly talks weirdly; it’s a definite slow unraveling. June pulls Jack to the side and warns him that Lilly may not be ready for this. Leo is unhappy with June’s cold feet. Christou died in the ambulance. Car is asking the ladies who talked to Christou, and he discovers that they filled out a questionnaire and talked to the same lady who helped Christou off stage. Uh huh.

They return from the commercial. Car is already antagonizing June, haha. June doesn’t think it is actually Abraxas, but perhaps a minor deity. They have a bunch of objects taken from the house, including a sacrificial dagger. Lilly calls her demon, Mr. Wriggles. Gus’ musical instrument goes off at the right time, then he gets shocked, and the glasses start shattering. Car unplugs a cord, claiming it was feedback from the PA system. Lilly claims it was Mr. Wriggles. June really wants to cut this short, but everyone else wants it to continue. June agrees to try a brief demonstration.

During the commercial break, June is pissed off with Jack. The ladies get set up for the demonstration, and Gus tells Jack that he is meddling with things that he doesn’t understand. Jack just wants to save his show. The crew is considering jumping ship. Back to the show.

It’s demonstration time, and you can’t spell demonstration without demon. June instructs the audience to remain calm so that Lilly remains focused on June. She gets Lilly to sleep very quickly. Lilly starts twitching after a minute. Lilly’s face looks different now, very pained and sweaty. Wriggles says it’s good to see Jack again. They met amongst the tall trees. Wriggles brings up Madeline and suggests that Jack can fuck June. Wriggles gets really intense, and June has to slap her. June has to start talking in Latin to get Lilly back. Wriggles asks Jack how he could allow it to happen. The chair starts to levitate with Lilly in it. It falls, and Lilly appears back to normal. Car wants to point out the tricks employed during that segment, and he will after the commercial break.

During the break, Jack pulls June aside. He wants the ladies to come on more often. June asks about the tall trees. They take the straps off of Lilly. Gus bitches to Leo, and Leo insists that Gus suck it up. Gus informs Car that Christou died. Leo tells Jack that 3 of the crew members just walked off. But they are pulling in a hge share. Jack is still dwelling on how Lilly’s voice sounded like Minnie’s. They dropped the costume parade to get more of Lilly. Back to the show.

Jack apologizes to the audience for what they just saw. He asks Lilly how it feels, and she describes it. Car now jumps in and wants to disprove all of this. June gets all pissy. Car assures the audience that there is no demon. Jack thinks that Car is afraid to part with half a million bucks. Car now wishes to disprove things, and he has Gus as a volunteer. Jack gives Car 5 minutes. Car sets up the atmosphere and the chairs. Car pulls out a big pocketwatch and makes it do the swirly thing to hypnotize people. Am I about to enter the Twilight Zone? Car asks Gus about his fear of worms. Car tells Gus that he is in a deep trance. When he clicks his fingers, Gus will be under his command, and sure enough, he is in a trance. Gus claims to hear something weird. Gus is getting awfully warm. His skin is itchy. Gus has a gash on his neck and pulls a worm out. Gus pulls open his stomach and worms fall out. Lilly is laughing. Car is snapping his fingers to pull Gus out. Then a worm come out of Gus’s head, but then he breaks the spell. Gus has no recollection. Car said that he did the exact same thing that June did and she is crossing her arms in a huff. They pull up the tape and rewatch what happened with Gus and Car. Jack says this isn’t how he remembered it. Only a few people in the audience didn’t see the worms.

Lilly says that they should replay the Mr. Wriggles segment to see how it differs. Jack says no to the jazz player, Cleo. Let’s finish the segment. June doesn’t want to. They slow down the video and Jack sees something very weird when they go frame by frame. He sees Minnie next to him. Car is incensed at Jack for conspiring to get viewers. Lilly slips back to Wriggles as Car is yelling at Jack. More electrical mishaps. Lilly is covered in electricity and is seemingly being torn apart. He head rips open. Gus pulls out his cross and gets his head twisted. June intervenes and is being hung by her necklace until her throat tears open. Car offers the check, but Wriggles makes it disappear and then melts Car. Jack is flung against the wall. Leo tries to get Jack out.

We then go to a static screen with a demonic face. They return to Gus, introducing Jack to the audience. It has a dreamlike quality, and Jack seems confused. Gus is cracking jokes. It feels so creepy or ominous. Jack is now in a skit that we saw earlier from the highlights. All the highlights are different now. Then station difficulties screen followed by a woman spinning a wheel with the spiral. Jack is freaking out and he sees weird shit, including the trees. Then we see Jack signing his contract and they ask what he had to sacrifice for it. The business guy says that Jack’s biggest sacrifice is yet to come. Jack is then escorted by a bunch of contumed men while he holds a chalice and talks to D’abu or whatever his name was. Jack is told to drink up while everyone acts weird. The studio opens up and there’s Minnie in her bed, all bald and on oxygen. Is this supposed to be a bedroom or hospital room? She says that he had to pay a price to be number 1 in the ratings, and that meant Minnio’s death. Jack says it wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. He tells her how much he loves her, so she asks him to do one last thing for her. She wants him to kill her with the dagger and end her pain. He stabs her, and then wakes up and has stabbed Lilly. The rest of the set in disarray as it was before, everyone is dead. He says “Dreamer here, awake”. Then “End transmission. So it is done” is written in the bottom corner.

End FIlm

Ya know what? That was actually better the second time around. I was worried that I wouldn’t like it as much, but polar opposite. The details are really well done, and on a second viewing, you start looking for different things. Just a wonderfully crafted horror flick and one of the best of the 2020’s, no doubt. The acting was all quite good. I think they all played off each other quite well. The effects to make it look older felt pretty spot on. The aesthetics were quite nice.

The reality is that some people simply aren’t gonna like the ending. I get it. There are several endings that people love, and I just groan at them. For me, the ending lands mostly. I had a typo that said moistly and almost kept it for laughs. I think there are multiple ways of interpreting the ending,g and that’s not a bad thing in this film’s situation.

Final Rating: 7.1 – I want to go higher, but in order to do that, I would have to rerate at least 100 other movies to better align with my current philosophies. Instead, I feel like this is an appropriate score. Some days I could probably go between a 6.5 and a 7.4. Today I am in a good mood, so that’s where this lands. I definitely recommend this film.

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