Keshawn Allen
At the beginning of this decade, many horror movies have made waves in pop culture and the horror genre. This year, the film “Late Night With The Devil” brings something a little different to this genre.
The movie is about Jack Delroy, a late-night show host, who is recovering from the death of his wife while at the same time trying to save his failing talk show. Jack’s biggest issue is that since this is his last chance to make a big impression on his audience members and his viewers at home, he’s willing to go along with anything as long as it means he gets to stay on the air. During the live broadcast of the last episode he will ever make, a series of horrific and unfortunate events occur. In the beginning, the audience is under the impression that the studio is either haunted or that Jack is being attacked by demonic spirits surrounding him. In actuality, there is something much deeper than the audience could have guessed.
Jack invites many guests on the late-night show to keep the viewers entertained. Mysteriously, none of the guests know each other, but they connect by the time the climax approaches. The first guest is a famous magician who is also a skeptic regarding the supernatural. He is willing to find the flaw in every claim of paranormal activity that takes place around him. The next guest is a man who claims to have the clairvoyant ability to talk to spirits and dead people. His ability to talk to spirits gets questioned due to the events that take place throughout the night. The last guest on the show is an investigative journalist and researcher who claims that she has brought a little girl who has the devil living inside of her.
The cinematography in the film is brilliantly done by the editing crew and set crew. This movie takes place in 1977, and the amount of 70s nostalgia some viewers may receive is astonishing. The film does a great job of presenting this movie as if it were an actual broadcast of a real-life 1970s talk show. Not only do the 70s pop culture references send the viewer back in time, but the camera filter they chose to shoot allows them to be under the impression that this is a vintage, real-life recording.
During the back story, the audience witnesses the footage from the night Jack filmed his show for the last time. Not to mention that every time they cut to a commercial, there is a behind-the-scenes recording of everything taking place when they are cut off and aren’t live. This camera records in black and white in contrast to color when they are live. Another notable feature with the camera work is that 90 percent of the film is captured through the television camera to keep the found footage feel of the movie.
With this being an indie film, it was not expected to make as much money as it did. As it has been released for three weeks, it has already made ten million dollars worldwide and will possibly bring in more money. If anyone who enjoys horror would like to experience a unique and different kind of horror movie, this film should be added to your watch list.