LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (2023)
Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) is the host of Night Owls, a 70s late-night talk show, second only to The Tonight Show in viewership. Jack has recently lost his wife (Georgina Haig) and is sinking in the ratings. With his contract about up, Jack needs a home run show to get back on track. He decides to deliver a Halloween spectacular featuring a psychic (Fayssal Bazzi), a magician (Ian Bliss), and Lily (Ingrid Torelli) a survivor of a demonic cult mass suicide and supposedly herself possessed by a demon. At first the show starts out better than Jack had hoped for but soon all hell breaks loose live on TV in front of a captive and terrified audience.
Jack Delroy’s Halloween talk show extravaganza is about to go all to hell…literally!
Seventies set horror is cleverly written and directed by Colin and Cameron Cairnes and not only perfectly captures the look and feel of a late-night talk show of that era, but also is a spooky, fun good time as well. It’s a very innovative and original horror with a borderline brilliant performance from David Dastmalchian as Jack, a charismatic talk show host with a past. The show starts out as a slow but fun burn, until Lily is brought on by her guardian and parapsychologist Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon). The film gets quite disturbing and spooky from that point on but maintains its sense of fun. There are some legit chilling moments and a little gore as well till it comes to an over-the-top conclusion with some not totally unexpected reveals. As the credits roll and the chills subside one has the realization that they just had a goosebump filled blast of a good time watching Jack’s show and life unravel in sinister fashion. To say any more would be to ruin what is definitely one of the best horror films so far this year. Now streaming on Shudder.
-MonsterZero NJ
Photo: IFC Films
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