Whaddaya know? A positive entry in the “Found Footage” genre. Too bad it comes years after the genre ate itself. Wait. No. Not too bad. With exceptions that can be counted on one hand (including today’s film), the “Found Footage” genre sucks. These are the films you have when you’re too cheap to pay a cinematographer or a script writer. I dunno how many times in my film watching career I’ve had the thought, “You know what I really need here? I need a scene that feels like it has been shot by somebody having an epileptic seizure. I need a plot point that feels like it has been written by a middle schooler late for 5th period. And finally, I need a denouement that feels entirely inconclusive because the audience cannot tell what has happened.” Now, I don’t exactly how many times I’ve had these thoughts. but I think the answer is zero (0) times.
Today’s film got around the terrible camera work associated with the genre by having good (!) camera work, which is near impossible for most “Found Footage” reps. Best you can hope for, usually, is a stationary camera, as in the Paranormal Activity movies. Late Night with the Devil, however, tells the forgotten tale of a second-rate talk show, “Night Owls with Jack Delroy.” The film gives some backstory about how negligent blob Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) got himself a talk show in 1971, and has somehow managed to keep it until 1977 without the help of being funny, insightful, empathetic, or endearing.
I’d like to say this is anomalous to 1970s TV, but it kind of isn’t. There are good reasons why CBS ran a “late movie” in that time slot for over a decade and how “SNL” became national phenomenon with a sketch success rate of maybe 30%. The bar was low, real low at this time. Try to imagine basketball in the 1950s and you have a good idea. The fictional Delroy-hosted show constantly fell short of the Johnny Carson standard (to the surprise of nobody). Delroy himself might have dabbled with dark arts over the years and lost a wife to cancer in the months before we are presented with the “lost show” on Halloween night of 1977.
The actual show starts fairly “meh” with an October 1977 NYC-specific monologue. For those playing at home, the Yankees did win the World Series that October. But the clincher was on October 18 and the parade on October 20; I seriously doubt New Yorkers would still be agog by October 31. This ain’t Kansas City. 1977 also boasted Son of Sam and the enormous blackout in NYC, but the film mentioned neither.
This movie begs some questions, no? If you interviewed the Devil, what would you ask? (“Gee, man, haven’t
you had enough? The Middle East alone hasn’t been peaceful in -literally- thousands of years.”) Or, if the Devil ran a talk show, who would the guests be? People who are pure evil? Those who sold their souls? Or maybe a line-up of guests the Devil thought were temptable? Would you watch the Devil’s talk show? Sure, you would. If only for the spectacle.
Delroy’s first guest, Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) is a seer (a terrible opening guest, but I’m guessing Burt Reynolds didn’t do the Jack Delroy show). Christou has an epic fail on vision #1, but the film really begins with vision #2 in which he mysteriously summons the spirit of a woman’s dead child. It’s either a great illusion or something supernatural. Ah, but the fun is just beginning. Christou is barely an afterthought by the time he’s reported dead in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
I’d warn of a spoiler, but there’s a lot more here than Christou’s parlor trick. Part of the reason the horror works here is that Jack Delroy is a bit of weasel. Has he exploited his wife’s death for ratings? Has he been toying with Satan in his spare time? Does he give a demon’s testicle about any of his guests or does he just want to save his B-List career? A great deal of this film is pure cheese in the same way Grindhouse was pure cheese. The 70s trappings in wardrobe, style, camera cutaways, and commercial breaks lent an authentic air to the proceedings. This isn’t magical or everlasting horror. I mean, whatever the Devil might or might not have done of Halloween Night in 1977 is probably long past the statute of limitations. All the same, horror fans should find some fun here.
There was once a talk host named Jack
Who wanted his popularity back
So he lined up some guests
To show off his bests
And gave the audience one big heart attack
Rated R, 93 Minutes
Director: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes
Writer: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes
Genre: Evil TV prior to Fox News
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Horror fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Talk show fans
