For their first movie set in the U.S., Australian horror maven-brothers Cameron and Colin Cairnes hit on a novel idea that would seem to require a sensibility they weren’t born to. Late Night with the Devil is essentially a real-time rendering of an episode of a fictional American late-night TV talk show from the 70s. The fact that the Cairnes nailed the tone of that particular genre of television in its time makes one wonder just how ubiquitous it was globally, but in any case, they’re helped enormously by actor David Dastmalchian, who plays the troubled, ambitious host, Jack Delroy, a man whose only desire is to knock Johnny Carson off the late-night throne, if even for one ratings cycle. Delroy’s show, “Night Owls with Jack Delroy,” we are told during a well-written preface narrated over a montage of shocking news stories from that era, was once considered edgy, but due to personal tragedy and other unforeseen developments, Delroy was never able to capitalize on the initial buzz, and some five years into the show it has slipped badly and is in danger of being cancelled, so during sweeps week in 1977, which happens to coincide with Halloween, he goes for broke with a live broadcast featuring a girl who is supposedly possessed by the devil. 

Though the conceit of structuring the film as a real TV show occasionally gets away from the Cairnes—Is this a documentary about that particular show, or merely found footage?—the dialogue and visuals recreate the era with stunning verisimilitude, which presents its own problems when supporting what is nominally a horror film. The setup is exacting and thus takes longer than it should, and consequently no horror elements show up until halfway through the movie. The first two guests before the girl comes out for the big finale are meant to provide context to the studio audience: a medium named Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) whose shtick isn’t entirely convincing; that is, until he starts projectile vomiting black goo; and a magician named Carmichael (Ian Bliss) who is now in the business of debunking “charlatans” like Christou, much as the Amazing Randi did with regard to people like Uri Geller. When the possessed girl, Lilly (Ingrid Torelli), is brought out with her handler, the Stanford parapsychologist Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), Carmichael tries to explain away the demonic ramblings of the spirit within her, Mr. Wiggles, by performing a neat bit of hypnosis on the audience, and for a moment the movie conveys genuine suspense. But the other shoe has to drop and when it does, all hell literally breaks loose, since Delroy’s constant need to pump the segment for all its visceral power in order to cause a sensation goes against the doctor’s warnings, thus allowing Mr. Wiggles ingress into our world. 

The Cairnes also intensify their critique of media smugness by showing what happens on set during the commercial breaks, as the pushy asshole producer badgers employees and Delroy gets worked up about whether the home audience is properly worked up itself. In a sense, the horror stuff and this comment on the distorting effect of TV work at cross purposes, since neither is sufficiently elaborated upon to make any points beyond the most obvious ones. And the ending, which goes on two beats too long, dampens the effects of the shocks that preceded it. But those shocks are pretty good in that they are as funny as they are gross. 

Opens Oct. 4 in Tokyo at Toho Cinemas Hibiya (050-6868-5068), Toho Cinemas Shinjuku (050-6868-5063), Shibuya Cine Quinto (03-3477-5905), Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills (050-6868-5024).

Late Night with the Devil home page in Japanese

photo (c) 2023 Future Pictures & Spooky Pictures