Late Night with the Devil

Director(s) - Cameron Cairnes (Scare Campaign, Warren and Hal) and Colin Cairnes (Under One Roof, 100 Bloody Acres)

Starring - David Dastmalchian (Last Voyage of the Demeter, Dune), Laura Gordon (Saw V, Undertow), and Ian Bliss (The Matrix Reloaded, Man-Thing)

Release Date - 2024

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Warning! May be disturbing to some viewers"

Format - Streaming (Vudu)

Rating (out of 5):

     I typically focus most of my attention on indie and no budget genre films but the last decade or so, specifically the last 5 or so years, has brought us some unforgettable big budget pop horror films. Over the last few years I fell in love with Ti West's X, Freaky, Black Phone, Happy Death Day, Barbarian, Lisa Frankenstein, Prey, Evil Dead Rise, Midsommar, and more I'm sure I'm forgetting. While I have a soft spot for indie horror and always will, I've been getting overly excited for more mainstream pop horror recently so when I saw that David Dastmalchian was attached to the new IFC Films produced flick, Late Night With the Devil, and I knew I had to see it. He's been active in the movie world for almost 25 years but recently gained in popularity after appearing as Polka-Dot Man in James Gunn's Suicide Squad. His career was already impressive before landing that role after appearing in The Dark Knight, Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, Sushi Girl, and The Belko Experiment. He's a fantastic actor and I couldn't wait to see him kill it in Late Night With the Devil. 

      The film follows a struggling late-night television host who has several interesting guests on his nightly show. It starts out innocently enough when a magician practicing mysticism demonstrates some of his abilities. His next guest is a former magician turned supernatural debunker. Things take an interesting turn when the final guests are revealed to be an author who has been working with a teenage girl that was rescued from a cult. She agrees to a séance and things take a deadly turn and no one in the studio is safe. 

      I went into Late Night With the Devil knowing nothing about the film aside from it starring Dastmalchian. I'm glad I went into this one blind. It made the story really even more enjoyable not knowing what it was inspired by or where it was going. The acting in this one is amazing and I truly mean that. While I'm a huge fan of Dastmalchian, he is not the highlight of the film. His character is amazing, and he does a wonderful job in his performance, but he is not the center of attention so to speak. Ian Bliss and Fayssal Bazzi carried the film for me as their portrayal of the spiritualist and the debunker until Ingrid Torelli's character was revealed. Once she arrives, she steals the show. She was amazing and her performance here rivals Linda Blair in The Exorcist. The story for this one is one I never expected to see as the basis for a horror film. Many years ago, renown supernatural debunker and former magician James Randi went on television to prove that magician James Hydrick did not have superpowers. The event was hosted by Bob Barker and is still a popular video online among debunkers and nonbelievers. Once this is established, we move into another popular topic of the late 70s which was the occult and Satanic Panic. The little girl surviving a cult who had plans of using her as a sacrifice really is the nightmare of so many from the late 70s. This is fantastic writing that works well at character development and pacing. Finally, the film does have a little blood and some wild visual and practical effects. I absolutely loved the visuals. They were kind of cheesy but it fit the film so well. Overall, Late Night With the Devil is one of the better horror releases of the last few years regardless of if you are a fan of pop horror or not. I highly recommend checking this one out!