Final Rating: 5/5
In the mid-70’s, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) was on top of the world. The host of TV’s second-most popular talk show, “Night Owls”, Delroy represented the edgy side of late night, giving viewers wild skits and unscripted moments they’d never see on Johnny Carson. And yet, he could never eclipse Carson. Four seasons in as the novelty wore off, Delroy would come to be known as “the perpetual also-ran” as the ratings gap between him and Carson steadily widened. But all that changed with the live TV event that shocked the nation, which would come to be known as Late Night with the Devil.
Presented as the original master tapes from the most scandalous episode of a fictional TV talk show, Late Night is a slow-burn psychological horror that’s as funny as it is terrifying and as gripping as it is kitschy. Though the format and tone of Delroy’s show is closer to Stephen Colbert or Craig Ferguson than Johnny Carson, the aesthetics of the show make Late Night feel like something authentically left over from the 70’s – from the colour palette to topical jokes about President Jimmy Carter that don’t make any sense to a modern audience.
Late Night centres around the 1977 Halloween special, with Delroy bringing on a variety of supernatural guests in an attempt to produce proof of the paranormal. Even without its supernatural promise, the episode would be excellent television, with each guest more electric than the last, and their interpersonal squabbles often more wildly entertaining than the planned bits.
The show’s first guest is Christou, a psychic so bad at his act he’s upstaged by a random audience member’s improvised comedy set. The main guests of the night are Lilly, a girl born into a satanic church who is also the last survivor after the cult’s mass suicide, and her guardian Dr. June Ross-Mitchell, a parapsychologist who can commune with demons. The lineup is rounded out by Carmichael the Conjurer, a magician-turned skeptic à la James Randi who is also the most condescending man on Earth.
The clear standout is Carmichael (Ian Bliss), a boisterous curmudgeon so disillusioned with magic and the beyond that he’s barely willing to let anyone else speak. He’ll readily interject with so many barbs and quips that by the end, the audience preemptively boos the moment he appears on screen. Carmichael’s intention is to thoroughly dismantle every other guest on the show. Even when silent, Bliss is constantly sizing up the rest of the cast like a snake waiting to strike. Any time he gets a line, it’s immediately the highlight of the scene.
If Bliss as Carmichael raises the bar for performances in Late Night, Dastmalchian as Delroy miraculously clears it. From the opening monologue of his show, it’s immediately clear how Delroy could go head-to-head with Carson. His comedic timing is off-the-charts, and his interview skills are impeccable. Even when the show finally goes off-the-rails, it does so entirely backstage as Delroy perfectly holds “Night Owls” together for the audience, the sponsors, and the viewers at home.
Like any good TV host, Delroy’s mood serves not only as a mirror of, but also a guide to the audience. Shocking paranormal activity? Delroy is the most shocked. Annoying behaviour from Carmichael? Delroy is the most annoyed. A touching bonding moment occurs between two audience members? Delroy leads the audience in chanting “aww”. By the end, Delroy’s shock becomes our shock, his terror our terror, his nightmare our nightmare.
Late Night makes effective use of different aspect ratios and colour palettes to realize its “never-before-seen” footage. The main show is presented in full-screen full-colour 4:3, cutting to commercial breaks every few minutes before transitioning into black-and-white behind-the-scenes footage. While the visuals look much slicker than they would have in 1977, the early explanation of “these are the master tapes” makes suspension of disbelief easy. Beyond just a neat detail, the visual presentation of the film is a deliberate storytelling choice, with any change – most of them subtle – resetting the feel of the film. Late Night is at its eeriest when a scene transition is accompanied by an at-first imperceptible shift in filmmaking. Though the film never breaks the fourth wall, there are moments when the reality of its world gives way to the surreal. In those moments, Late Night begins to feel sickeningly voyeuristic, as if we’re no longer watching a show curated for us by a charismatic host, but instead looking into one man’s private hell.
A hell that could never eclipse Johnny Carson in ratings.
Late Night With The Devil was seen during the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.
