The horror genre has undoubtedly become a bit stale over the years. While there have been some good movies, there have also been many repetitive scares and cliche tropes. Every movie tries to do something new and innovative, but I have never been as impressed with a horror movie as I was with “Late Night with the Devil.”
“Late Night with the Devil” is an indie horror movie written and directed by brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes. It stars David Dastmalchian as late-night host Jack Delroy in a satanic episode of his show “Night Owls.”
What viewers see in the movie is a lost episode of “Night Owls” that was recovered with behind-the-scenes shots of the cast and crew as the show gets more and more demonic.
“[[‘Late Night with the Devil’]] takes what’s popular with horror, which is analog horror, things like ‘The Walten Files’, ‘Vita Carnis’, and ‘Greylock’ and they decided to take that [concept] and make it a movie,” said senior Clair Arndt.
Analog horror is a subgenre of horror that specifically focuses on older forms of media like VHS and cassette tapes. It uses grainy footage and distorted audio to create eerie situations. It has had a lot of difficulty being transferred to the big screen, and not a lot of movies have been able to do it well.
“Late Night with the Devil” does a really good job of using analog horror, switching between live footage and behind-the-scenes shots. It gives it a very unique feel among horror movies.
“It is a breath of fresh air, I found myself recently very desensitized to a lot of modern-day horror,” said Arndt. “A lot of things are just reboots and rehashes, so when I’m able to get completely unique, high-quality content from indie producers, it’s just amazing.”
So many things in this movie work so well. From David Dastmalchian’s amazing acting to the jarring switch from old-school 90’s practical effects to genuinely terrifying scenes, this movie is an absolute blast to watch.
The acting in this movie is one of the many reasons it is so good. Ian Bliss does a phenomenal job as skeptic Carmichael Haig. By the end of the movie, viewers will probably end up not liking him, but that just goes to show how good of a job Bliss does with the character.
The movie is not without a flaw, albeit a relatively minor one. There was a bit of controversy surrounding some title cards used in the movie being AI-generated art, but they have a total screen time of about 20 seconds. Besides that, I think this is genuinely one of, if not the best, horror movies I’ve ever seen.
“Late Night with the Devil” is no longer available in most theaters, but it is now streaming on Shutter.
“I do think it’s entirely worth getting your buddies together for an all-nighter and watching [[‘Late Night with the Devil’]],” said Ardnt.
Hello my name is Ryker Stevenson and this is my second year on 42fifty. I am a senior and currently participate in chess club and co-captain for scholastic bowl. I am happy to be back and to serve the publication again as the Arts and Entertainment Section Editor.
Clair is so right I’d pay so much money to see LNWTD for the first time again