Late Night with the Devil (2023) — the film that gave me hope for horror again

Found footage; analogue horror; demonic possession; a deal with the Devil… the top four tropes I, as a huge horror fan, have felt have been oversaturated and smothered with for the last decade or so. “Please,” I have too often thought to myself, “if you’re going to use yet another painfully predictable horror trope AGAIN, can you at least be somewhat original about it, just this once?” Late Night with the Devil, written and directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes, is all four of these tropes combined into one single narrative. You’re probably expecting me to tell you that to my pleasant surprise, it manages to be unpredictable and unique despite this, yes?

Well, no. ‘Original’ isn’t really one of the adjectives I’d use to describe its premise nor its execution. It’s also almost comically predictable, with its entire plot and ‘twist,’ if you can even call it that, essentially explained plainly to the audience within the first 10 minutes — maybe, at a push, the first 20% of the runtime. 

So, it has an entirely unorignal premise, using the top four modern horror tropes that I tend to roll my eyes at the most, executed in an almost deliberately predictable manner — and yet, I love it. This film restored my faith in the modern mainstream horror genre enough for me to see it in the cinema three times upon its release. And it isn’t because I think horror has been particularly poor as of late (although there have certainly been some shockers, and not the good kind); it’s because I’ve missed good horror being fun.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve certainly enjoyed the suffocating grief of Hereditary, Midsommar, The Haunting of Hill House and many others. And I’m absolutely not saying I haven’t found a horror film fun until now, either. My point is, rather, that Late Night with the Devil, on paper, has one of the most copy-paste horror premises you could possibly imagine… and instead of taking itself so seriously that it all falls flat, or making some half-hearted attempt at goofiness that merely comes across as painful insincerity, the film fully embraces its cookie cutter storyline and uses it to its advantage from the very beginning, resulting in the ultimate level of audience participation a film could possibly achieve. 

Take Ghostwatch, for example — the iconic BBC Halloween prank that very quickly gained a cult following amongst horror fans decades after its initial airing. In 1992, many people tuning in that night missed the warning stating that they were about to watch a fake programme that would include content that may be distressing to children, resulting in a live experience that could never be replicated again. Now, though, when people seek out a rare VHS tape recording of that original airing, it isn’t because they’re curious to see what will happen; it’s because they know exactly how it will end, and want to embark on the journey to get there. They want to become a spectator in the audience despite being fully aware of the conclusion. That is the purpose of Late Night with the Devil, and it executes it beautifully. 

I do believe Ghostwatch was the primary inspiration for this film, not just due to its whole premise of ‘live Halloween talk show special goes horribly wrong,’ but because it really knows how to make the audience feel involved. The shocked gasps and mutterings of the in-universe studio audience feel genuine rather than scripted — there are moments where our hosts will interrupt themselves to ask the audience members to reign themselves in, and it feels so authentic that I myself felt like I was being personally scolded at times on my first viewing, and doing so in a cinema packed with people having their own reactions was the icing on the cake.

There are several instances where the characters acknowledge or speak directly to “the viewers watching at home” — from the unsettling gaze of Lilly, a disturbed little girl portrayed brilliantly by Ingrid Torelli, who rarely takes her eyes off of the camera, and by extension, us; to my personal favourite scene involving hypnotism which I will not spoil here, but it was the only scene wherein I could never have anticipated what was about to happen making it an absolute masterclass at subverting expectations. You, the viewer watching at home, are your own character in this story, and the only way to escape is to turn off your TV – which the hosts recommend several times; but will you? Are you sure you even want to? Is it truly “you” who feels that way or is it the influence of something else?

Now, I do finally have to talk about the elephant in the room: the use of generative AI. It is unspeakably disappointing to see, and the film and its creators very much deserve the utmost criticism for it. Its use is so painfully obvious from the mangled skeleton fingers on the show’s title cards that I can only assume the ‘graphic designers’ the directors claimed they hired to ‘enhance and edit’ the AI were simply there to add the text, which generative AI still drastically fails at creating on its own. Its use and the creators’ vehement defence of it are an embarrassment that I hope aren’t a forebearer of what’s to come down the line.

However many criticise generative AI for erasing the work of artists, and this is very true. But — if we toss this entire film aside completely for using what totals to about 5 seconds of generative AI, is that not more problematic? Erasing the work of the hundreds of people who worked on the rest of the film? The practical effects artists? The cinematographer? The truly excellent actors, including David Dastmalchian whom, through this film, finally manages to demonstrate his talent for portraying neuroticism in a starring role? Do all these people all deserve to have their hard work thrown away and forgotten about for the ridiculous decisions of a few? My personal opinion: absolutely not. But only you can form your own view by actually watching the final product first, which, if you couldn’t already tell, I highly recommend you do, now that it has been released for a special limited edition run on Blu-ray and 4K UHD, and is also available for streaming on Shudder.

Go, witness the spectacle, and remember: if it all gets to be too much, you can always escape by simply turning off your TV… can’t you? 

Extras include an audio commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson. An interview with Colin and Cameron Cairnes (100 Bloody Acres) – Bringing Their ‘A’ Game. And there’s a selection of interview actors with Ian Bliss (Mind if I Smoke?), Ingrid Torelli (We’re Gonna Make a Horror Movie), and Rhys Auteri (Extremely Lucky). There’s making of and behind the scenes features. A Q&A from SXSW 2023 with David Dastmalchian, Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes. A video Essay from Zoë Rose Smith – Cult Hits. And closing out this Second Sight release is a 120-page book with behind the scenes images, storyboards and new essays by Kat Hughes (All of us are Lost), James Rose, Rebecca Sayce, Graham Skipper, Julieann Stipidis and Emma Westwood.

Phoenix’s Archive – Late Night with the Devil

Alex previously reviewed Late Night with the Devil (for it’s shudder release) HERE