David Dastmalchian is one of those actors who has a distinct look that he’s often cast in roles where he plays bad guys or just unhinged characters. His first role was as one of The Joker’s henchmen, who had just been released from Arkham Asylum, during a scene in The Dark Knight.
He’s appeared in a lot of superhero movies for both Marvel and DC Comics. In recent years, he played Abner Krill, aka The Polka-Dot Man in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. He has become a popular actor for directors Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan who cast him as William L. Borden, the lawyer who accused J. Robert Oppenheimer of having ties to the Soviet Union, in Oppenheimer.
So, it’s nice to see him get some meatier roles after more than a decade of appearing in mostly supporting roles. It’s just a shame a movie like Late Night with the Devil doesn’t load him down in a cliched supernatural horror movie. Part of the movie’s main problem is it’s presented in a found footage format, which in 2024 is about as original as seeing text messages on the screen in a movie. Dastmalchian plays Jack Delroy, the late-night host of a 1970s talk show Night Owls with Jack Delroy on the fictional UBC.
In an attempt to garner more ratings and advertising dollars for sweeps week, the show devotes the Halloween night 1977 episode to the supernatural by bringing on a young girl, Lily D’abo (Ingrid Torelli), who is the only survivor of a mass suicide by a Satanic cult. It’s believed that Lily may also be possessed by a demon, possibly the Devil, and hope to summon it on the air. Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) is a parapsychologist who has been treating Lily.
Also on the show is a Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss), a former magician turned skeptic who is there to show the tricks of the trade. Haig is actually based on real-life James Randi, a Canadian-American stage magician who also became a skeptic. They also invite a psychic, Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), who butts heads with Haig.
While the writer/director duo of brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes know how to format the show that it looks like something from the 1970s era, it feels more like they should’ve done a more basic horror movie with a more linear plot that doesn’t seem to give too much away in the beginning. During this prologue, there is a documentary about Jack’s life and career that drops a lot of hints of things that will come back. It’s narrated by Michael Ironside. But you kind of wish they had styled the movie more like a horror version of The Larry Sanders Show.
Even at 89 minutes with credits, you’re left wondering were late-night shows this long in the 1970s. Usually TV movies ran about 70-ish minutes. But Jack is supposed to be competing against Johnny Carson. However his jokes during the monologue seem mediocre. There’s also the feeling of knowing a lot isn’t going to happen at least for the first half. Even with a character that projectile vomits a lot of black sludge, everyone in the audience seems to gasp and murmur, but no one freaks out. I’m also surprised a bunch of network executives wouldn’t demand the show be taken off the air right there.
Therefore, when things get really gruesome and gory, it would’ve almost gone to dead air while they station puts on a TV show they have in reserve. That’s why it would’ve been best if this had been played as the show was taping for later that night. Characters like Christou and Haig seem to linger too long on the screen more than they really should. Haig is supposed to be a pompous arrogant jerk and the ironically named Bliss plays him well.
The movie does hint at some of the misogyny and sexism of the era as Ross-Mitchell seems to be heavily criticized by Haig and there’s suspicion that Jack, himself, thinks she’s a charlatan searching for her 15 minutes. Even though he spends a lot of time off camera, Leo Fiske (Josh Quong Tart), does a nice job as the sleazy producer. I would’ve liked to seen more of him. But the scenes when they go to commercial break are filmed in black and white which breaks the found footage format.
Also, the movie’s most crucial character is Lily which Torelli plays blankly. Mainly, it’s because her character isn’t written as well. A scene in which Jack’s sidekick, Gus McConnell (Rhys Auteri) has his fear of worms exposed, is a far more memorable scene. Basically the overall problem is after seven V/H/S anthologies, this movie can’t shake the feel that it was originally intended for that series before being expanded into a feature movie. This movie and the V/H/S movies are distributed by Shudder.
As for Dastmalchian, he manages to add some dimension to the role. He’s not just the standard late-night talk show stereotype. And you get the sense he’s used to knowing how to hold shows together that experience problems. Yet, I still felt the movie falls short of what it truly meant to be. Maybe the filmmakers should’ve given the titular character more than a cameo.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 