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Far from most modern “horror” fare, Late Night with the Devil is an engaging, thoughtful, and entertaining demon possession film that takes a complex and educated approach to the subject matter, while also serving as a quaint period piece documenting the culture of 1970s America.
The film is part mockumentary, featuring “found footage” of a show in which a 1970s late night talk show host, struggling to catch up with the ratings of Johnny Carson, invited a demon-possessed teenage girl and her “parapsychologist” guardian on his Halloween special. Throughout the course of the night, the demon’s role on the show is made manifest, as are the secrets of host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian).
It is legitimately frightening, without engaging in jump scares or grotesque torture-related material. It’s also a relatively accurate portrayal of the way priests involved with exorcism have described satanic possession, and a fun period piece. It is not simply the sets, graphics, costumes, and digital video effects that make the film feel like something directly out of the 1970s, but also the way the characters speak. Language evolves over time, and the writers and actors clearly studied the manner of speech from the 1970s, and recreated it very effectively.
As a pleasant surprise, the film also features Bohemian Grove, which is an elite retreat in Northern California where elites go and allegedly – in fact, apparently – engage in various satanic rituals. The Grove was the subject of a 2000 documentary film by Alex Jones entitled Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove. In the documentary, Jones recorded some type of mock human sacrifice in front of a giant owl statue. The owl is featured in the iconography of the rituals in the film.
Along with the sets, costumes, and themes, the acting is great. The effects struggle at times, no doubt due to a limited budget, but there aren’t a lot of effects anyway, as the film is more focused on building tension than portraying horror.
Hilariously, there was some AI-related drama around the release of the film, as some of the cards marking ad breaks were apparently generated with AI. This is an example:
The complainers claimed that instead of using DALL-E and making these images for free, the filmmakers should have wasted money from their budget paying someone to create that art. It’s never explained why filmmakers should be required to ignore the existence of AI technology, and therefore waste money, it is simply asserted that this is a moral obligation, while the root of this morality is never explained. I give the film extra points for making the anti-AI crybabies mad.
The film’s intro is particularly strong, framing the film as a documentary showing found footage of the 1977 Halloween broadcast of the Carson competitor “Night Owls,” narrated by one of our favorites, Michael Ironside. Conversely, the ending is the weakest part, feeling somehow a bit rushed, even as it finally reveals the protagonist’s secrets (which, frankly, were obvious from very early on). I was also disappointed that the Irish Catholic character was not able to keep the demon at bay with his crucifix, which showed that while the film is definitely inspired by Christian material, it is not a true Christian film (I would have much preferred the Irishman to be the sole survivor).
I will also note that this is one of many films released in the last couple of years that has no forced diversity. Fitting accurately into the time and place at which it took place, the cast is nigh entirely white, featuring only a black set manager, who is a believable and non-offensive character. The film, which is not political at all (save for perhaps vaguely or partially Christian/Catholic), is yet more proof that “woke” is no longer the driving factor in American culture. Like Deadpool 3, it is clear proof that it is once again possible to simply make good, enjoyable films that are not preoccupied with pushing a political agenda or attacking the race and identity of the audience that is paying to view the film.
Although it is classified as horror, it is not particularly graphic, but I still would not recommend it to the squeamish. That said, I would not recommend it to people who are easily rustled, as it is certainly intense. After watching it with some friends at a comrade’s home theater, I was easily able to make the women scream by playing with the light switch.
I am a big respecter of both authentic portrayals of satanic phenomena and tributes to post-war Americana (are the 1970s really “post-war”? They definitely happened after World War II), as well as references to my favorite conspiracy material, so maybe I’m biased, but I quite enjoyed the film despite being disappointed that they did not go all the way with the Christian themes, and give Late Night with the Devil an 8/10.
Watch it with the lights off.
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Anglin is ahead of his time.
He did the cat memes long before everyone.
Others do it now.
I had a poltergeist in my house, making a doll walk across the room and kicking doors and shit. That’s legitimately frightening, not some christian flopping on the floor like a mudskipper because of the “devil.” That’s even lamer than jump scares.
A grown man getting spooked by exorcist stuff is just a faggot.
Why would an entity with the demonic power to animate a doll waste time animating a doll?
And you think “ghosts” are real? Somebody scared of a doll, shouldn’t be calling someone else a “faggot”.
It seems like a tribute to the Exorcist, the young girl, the mother and the lead character look a lot like the teenage girl, her mother and the priest ( Father Karras if I remember ) in this older movie.
Doesn’t seem very frightening, ( for the Anglin factory, maybe ) but the seventies reconstruction seems very good.
I , too , like Michael Ironside, what a pity that his political opinions don’t match his badass looks .
I’ve read accounts of exorcisms (because the subject has always interested me, not being a materialist) and one realizes that demonic spirits, contrary to their reputation for high intelligence (here, a bit like the Jews) enjoy all sorts of antics just for the fun of it. Make animal noises, perform obscene and ridiculous contortions, make silly jokes. The movie ” the Exorcist ” gives a good description of this sinister silliness.
This film is also notorious because of the nearly two minutes of studio logos that appear at the beginning of the film. This was apparently done because as an indy film, it required backing from several sources, all of which had to be given credit. People joked that it resembled a Family Guy skit from several years earlier.
Video Link
Who wrote this? This isn’t Anglin’s style.
This looks GREAT! Thanks for the review! The visual style, costumes, and HILARIOUS graphics are FLAWLESS! I just watched a broadcast of 1976’s “Carrie” last night I have seen that film for years and the re-creations of the “look” of the 1970’s is superb! Even down the popularity of young women parting their hair straight down the middle (This was a trend set by 15 year old beauty Oliva Hussey, who is STILL a luminous beauty, in the 1968 “Romeo and Juliet” by Franco Zeffirelli. That film is still the best version of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Yes – they cut large swathes of dialogue, but the actors were all the right age, the photography and editing was flawless, and the sets and sumptuous costumes were perfect. PERFECT. They made the viewer feel as though one has been dropped right into 14th century Renaissance Verona! Zeffirelli’s 1966 “Taming of the Shrew” was BRILLIANT as well. I digress ….)
Back to this film – I will probably watch this tonight!
C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy included several examples of this as well. The idea was that the Devil does silly and childish things, emulating the way that bullies provoke smart kids, either to simply demean and depress them or, ideally, to bring them down to their level and respond in kind. Bullies always believe they’ll win, but they don’t count on Nerd Rage.
In the second Space Trilogy book, Perelandra, the protagonist ultimately realizes that he has to fight back with physical violence, and it ends up being the right choice.
Kind of like the shocking scene in The Exorcist when the priest loses his shit and starts smacking the little girl around… which is when he finally beats The Devil.
Crap like “House of the Devil” made me wary of modern retro-70s horror movies, but this looks pretty good. Definitely willing to give it a shot.
Plus, it stars the memorable giggling Joker flunkie from The Dark Night.
Damn, did Andrew Anglin actually bring some unqualified benefit to my life? Didn’t see that coming…
So “demon possession” is real but ghosts aren’t? lmao, you christians are so out of touch with reality
I like how everything’s “demonic power” except when it’s jesus casting magic spells on fishes and wine and stuff…then it’s kosher with you people.
Speaking of Bohemian Grove, one of Anglin’s favorite authors, Hunter Thompson, is rumored to have partaken in, and possibly filmed a snuff film, at a Bohemian Grove human sacrifice ritual.
https://www.winterwatch.net/2024/04/hunter-s-thompson-dark-tales-and-curious-demise/
And Bohemian Grove is allegedly where the deal was made that Bush would be Reagan’s VP, and later that Cheney would be Bush’s VP. So you know a lot of evil really does go on there.
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2022/05/27/bohemian-club-secret-society/
That’s not much of a fence to jump. Probably there have been a few other versions of “Romeo and Juliet,” though I can’t recall any I’ve seen or known of. It’s odd — you’d think the play would be tailor-made for movie adaptation. You got your teenagers “coming of age,” you got your big-blowout ball scene, you got your fight with Mercutio getting sword kissed and dying, you got a three-hanky tragic ending.
And of course Shakespeare’s poetic dialogue, which falls more easily on modern ears than that of some of his other plays:
Juliet
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
It’s been years since I have seen Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet,” so maybe my reaction would be different now (but I doubt it). Zeffirelli is a fine director of costumes. Actors, not so much. (I wish the early-’60s Fellini or Luchino Visconti had taken a crack at the play. That would likely have been far more memorable.)
The late Stanley Kauffmann, in reviewing the picture, said (approximately) of the lead performers: “They are attractive youngsters, but have no idea what the lines they are speaking mean.” Have to agree with you about the Botticelli-like beauty of Olivia Hussey. At one time she was a frequent visitor to my daydreams.
Look out, there’s a Raggedy Ann doll in the corner! And a Barbie in the hallway! Run…
Grow up. The point was that one is a real thing and the other is just silly christian theatrics. A lobotomy would instantly cure those cretins of their “demon possession,” meanwhile actual supernatural beings are out there doing things, sometimes in your home, that make an actor flopping on the floor laughable by comparison. You christians are so easily scared it’s pathetic. Watch out grandpa, there’s a demon possession!!! No…it’s just someone having a seizure.
OK, so you are strongly opposed to the idea of demon possession. We’ll try to remember that.
But demon possession isn’t our real fear, anyway. Not. Even. Close.
We were not talking about your real fear… whatever that is. Getting banned from kikebook? In all seriousness it can’t be anything truly scary since you and anglin shit your pants at a B-movie.
Encounter a ghost, a monster, live with a level 5 poltergeist or have astral entities assaulting you in your sleep every night. Experience some real supernatural events then tell us how frightening that exorcism junk is. You people are like children.
The point is you’re scared of ghosts. And yet, try to demean and ridicule people who believe in demons or demonic possession. The point is, if one is, in your opinion, ridiculous, so is the other. Are you okay with Christians who believe in ghosts, like you? Maybe it’s a brain disorder that makes you unable to make the connection, or even understand the basics of the Christian Faith. Or maybe the rabbi back in Hebrew school really made you hate the Christian kids who were better looking and better athletes than you.
Yeah, maybe I could’ve wrote it better. Never said I’m scared of them, I was just trying to place things in perspective for anglin who was going on about ye olde devil possession, because frankly it’s fake and gay (and so is he). Or for any other normal people here. See, if a normal person like you had a poltergeist start wrecking your house while growling like a monster you’d understand what “legitimately frightening” is. But probably none of you will ever have that benefit so hey…keep calling exorcist junk horror and looking ridiculous. Ignorance is bliss I guess.
If you believe in G_d,
You MUST believe in Satan.
Screwtape.
Black Barbie ’bout scares me half to death.
Or maybe if you understood that what you call a “poltergeist”, people of a more religious inclination would call a “demon”. I’m starting to wonder if maybe your IQ is well below the Mendoza line. Because I’m a nice guy, I’ll try to explain it slowly, your “ghost” is a demon. In fact, maybe that “ghost” was able to possess you and that’s why you’re so anti-Christian. Find yourself an exorcist
“I give the film extra points for making the anti-AI crybabies mad.”
I’m looking forward to the day when AI takes a bite out of pop music, especially rap and hip-hop. Touring artists with whatever passes for charisma these days will probably be OK, but the so-called ‘recording artist’s’ days are numbered. Same goes for session musicians.
They’d be wrong. Poltergeists, a phenomenon studied by psychical researchers who are far more objective than medieval-minded “religious” retards, are not demons. They are fractious spirits on the Other Side who like to cause trouble for their own amusement but aren’t seriously evil. No one has ever been physically harmed by a poltergeist.
Yeah, well, I guess if you call them “retards”, you being an expert since you see one in the mirror every morning when you shave, it must be true…
You can believe whatever you want. The point, which I guess isn’t clear, is that if you believe in one, you have to allow fir the other. Your “psychic researchers” are no more qualified, and probably even less qualified, than religious folks who study the phenomenon. Many religious allow for your “poltergeists”, they just know them as demons. Agree or disagree, calling them a different name doesn’t make you smart.
Maybe this is of interest:
Yeah well having a religious inclination doesn’t mean one is necessarily informed on the matter. I shouldn’t need to point out the centuries of examples we have where people of a religious conceit were proved wrong. This is one of those things: most poltergeists are only dead people who decided to stick around. There’s nothing more sinister to it. And though there is a class of spirits you’d call demons, they’re just people, too. Not human perhaps, but that doesn’t make them evil. Pretty nice actually from what I hear. Lots of stories out there from occultists about invoking them to successfully help cure illnesses and whatnot.
You’d go a lot further in life with an open mind my man. It’s a big crazy universe and the bible doesn’t have all the answers.