‘Late Night with the Devil’ Review: David Dastmalchian is a Fiendish Leading Man in Gory Horror Mock Doc

David Dastmalchian is the very face of the modern character actor. With nearly 100 credits to his name,, it’s inevitable that you’ve seen him in one of your favorite modern movies. Astoundingly, he made his screen debut in a little film called The Dark Knight, where he made a major impression in just a few seconds of screen time as one of the Joker’s nameless thugs who receives a violent interrogation at the hands of Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent. And since then, he’s popped up with memorable supporting performances in an enviable number of blockbusters, including Ant-Man, The Suicide Squad, and Dune. In fact, he performed in a whopping five feature films that were released in 2023, including the Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer. His latest role as the charismatic fictional talk show host Jack Delroy in Late Night with the Devil gives him the well-earned opportunity to lead a film and, unsurprisingly, he’s up to the task. The film around him is a perplexing blend of 1970s pastiche striving for period-appropriate accuracy alongside anachronistic flourishes, but fans of Dastmalchian’s scene-stealing work will be pleased to see him successfully carry a film on his back.

Presented as a faux documentary recounting the infamous events of a special Halloween edition of the fictional Night Owls with Jack Delroy, the film simply lets the talk show episode play out, with backstage footage in place of commercials. Through a lengthy introduction, we come to learn that Delroy (Dastmalchian) has been chasing higher ratings ever since his talk show premiered, always placing behind Johnny Carson. After a retreat from the public eye and his wife’s tragic death from lung cancer (despite, mysteriously, not being a smoker herself), Delroy is determined to try anything to capture audiences’ attention with this spooky Sweeps Week episode. He books a cavalcade of eerie guests, including a convincing medium named Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), a confrontational paranormal skeptic (Ian Bliss), and most notably, a young girl named Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) who was raised in a Satanic cult and Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), the parapsychologist who gained fame for writing a book about the supposedly possessed little girl. As all forces converge in front of a live studio audience, things eventually go horribly wrong, with the havoc being broadcast to the living rooms of millions of Americans.

The design team clearly took great pains to recreate a 70s television studio, with the sets and costumes doing the heavy lifting to transport audiences to the Carter administration. Strangely, the cinematography and editing are less devoted to obvious period accuracy. Obviously, at a certain point, the film has to move away from totally precise pastiche as the more demonic elements come into play, but it’s oddly destabilizing to see parts of the movie look so correctly ‘70s when other aspects make concessions in that area. The backstage segments are most distracting of all. Directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes use a clear visual choice to contrast the parts of the film meant to have been seen or not seen by a television audience, but it doesn’t entirely work, where cinematographer Matthew Temple’s black-and-white handheld camerawork is used to distinguish the colorful broadcast video from the less polished behind-the-scenes footage. While this makes sense in theory, the way that the audio of private conversations is picked up by a forebodingly intrusive unseen cameraperson almost immediately takes you out of the moment. Modifications for the purposes of the script aren’t always bothersome -, but when the film is clearly trying very hard to ape the capabilities and limitations of the time period, it sticks out.

As might be expected for a film that purports to be a full-length television episode, it’s a slow burn. The majority of the scares don’t come until later, after we’ve watched a number of late night segments that are fairly typical, outside of a few unsettling moments. In fact, the movie is something of a comedy, which makes sense given the amiable energy of nighttime talk shows. But as the night draws to a close and supernatural forces take over, the film’s structure is smartly knocked off its axis. The sudden switch to outright horror is effectively shocking, with Dastmalchian perfectly playing surprise and dumbstruck terror as he watches these upsetting events unfold.

Unsurprisingly, Dastmalchian is at the center of the entire film, hosting his fictional talk show and leading the movie itself. He plays the smarmy charm of a late night host well – you’re compelled to keep watching him – even as it’s clear that he’ll stop at nothing to achieve success. And although it’s clear that he’s not afraid to push his guests past the point of comfort for a memorable TV moment, he’s so magnetic that you almost understand him…to a point. Gordon and Torelli make for a captivating pair, with the former playing sympathetic well as she pleads with Delroy not to harm the little girl with his demands. And Torelli is a hoot as the classic “little girl with a demon inside,” playing up her eerie innocence and fully committing to her character’s more hellish moments.

The writer-director pair of Colin and Cameron Cairnes have constructed a devilishly fun film that, despite some shortcomings, is sure to be a treat for horror fans. Importantly, the characters are well-drawn and specific, making it easy to keep track of and understand their actions. Sure, there are some misgivings about the details, which are famously where the devil resides, but a welcome leading turn from Dastmalchian and an eerie conclusion make Late Night with the Devil a program worth tuning in for.

Grade: B-

IFC Films and Shudder will release Late Night with the Devil in theaters on March 22.