On paper Late Night With the Devil presents itself in a mould that inhabits one of my favourite pieces of horror ever, the masterpiece that is Ghostwatch, which remains supremely effecting to this very day, and I’m sure that for many to immediately compare the two films is not exactly the sort of thing that the filmmakers would wish for any critic to do, however in this case the similarities are undeniable. Now I greatly enjoyed Late Night With the Devil for the plentiful differences it offered to the formula of a live tv presentation (or in this case master tape of previous live presentation) about demon possession, however it is in the things that Late Night for me did not succeed in that the most direct comparisons can be made.
Cameron
and Colin Cairnes have made a film that really does have an awful lot going for
it, but for my money just makes far too many fundamental errors with its
presentation for me to rank this any higher than what I will give it, and to be
honest as time goes by only more frustrations with the film rise for me rather
than happy lasting memories. Whether it be the over indulgent CGI that is not
pulled off with the level of pristine quality the film uses to depict its 70’s
setting or with the repeated cheating of the intended live feed set-up. As
always comparison is often a fruitless form of criticism, but in this case whether
it be this films natural looming overshadower in the masterpiece that is Ghostwatch,
or even in the brilliant film-making choices that go into the making of This
Time With Alan Partridge, there are just unfortunately for the Cairne’s far
too many better versions of this sort of presentation choice that don’t pull
their punches as much as they do. Late Night for instance chooses to
depict a series of alleged behind the scenes documentary scenes that are far
too close and intimate to be anywhere near believable and shot completely with
a mildly rough but mostly cinematic quality simply put through a black and
white filter. Again if the film didn’t set its entire self up as the true
footage, then I’d be more lenient perhaps.
The
film does take a few stylistic choices as the film continues that are 50/50
with me on whether or not they worked, mostly the ones that didn’t were those
done in full widescreen and removed from the letterbox TV quality of the
majority of the film. Performance wise however I do think the film has multiple
great turns, even if in almost every case there is a strained unrealistic
quality where one must again give the benefit of the doubt of sorts to have
this feel believable. David Dastmalchian is our host and does perhaps the best
job of making the thing feel believable, even if again his moroseness at points
and lack of ability to keep things light, skewing graver and graver is
justified by the script, it again just feels very filmy (for lack of a better
word) especially if one regrettably compares this up against our beloved Parky
and even Sarah Greene in Ghostwatch. Ian Bliss is a true standout
amongst the cast and gleefully serves up every scene with true panache and a
level of depth that perhaps one would at first not expect, however again he is
somewhat thwarted by an overly performative quality that does again come off as
unrealistic in the overall depiction the film is going for. As a piece of film
overall Late Night did and does work for me, however in this case there
is simply far too much better in other versions of this almost exact same story
that the strengths of this film cannot be outweighed by.
-
A very accomplished 6/10
that beyond my notions of comparison of works that have done this better and my
issues with the film pulling its punches on fully leaning into its whole
premise, I still had a very fun time with Late Night With the Devil and
it is something that I will be watching again. Our leads are stellar and just
like any of the best TV hosts of the time had to do, take us along for the ride
with glee and style. I cant help but feel though that Devil makes
mistakes where it was so easily avoidable and although what we receive to curve
this movement away from the films chosen style is effective fantastical horror
filmmaking, there was simply for me far too much looseness with the form and
when a film like this is so clearly presented to be one thing, these diversions
(no matter how solid) irked me.
P.S.
I wanted to discuss the AI issue in the postscript because I do feel that it
was a stupid and absolutely pointless addition to the film, however to have
this small independent film be the target off your vitriol I found outrageous
when so many huge studio movies have been using the same practises for many
years now without public outcry. To bully the small indie horror darling is
something that does not sit well with me at all.
P.P.S.
I understand that people need money to make movies but the length of the
opening credits studio logos for this film became genuinely laughable, the
entire audience were genuinly laughing in my screening. Each logo in itself was
just so long and each one felt like it could be the beginning of the film to
such an extent that when the film did start I was unsure. And yes, Family
Guy is a great tv show and that joke is one of their funnier and has never
been more apt.
- Thomas Carruthers
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