My full take:
- Of all the competitors to Johnny Carson's talk show throne, none flamed out quite so ignominiously as Jack Delroy, who, on Halloween 1977, saw his career end. Delroy is, of course, a fictional character created by the Cairnes brothers, Colin and Cameron, who wrote and directed LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL. The Cairnes are Australian, but they have done their research and the movie feels authentic through and through.
Delroy (David Dastmalchian) is more based on Australian talk show host Don Lane than the likes of the actual Carson rivals such as Dick Cavett, David Frost, Alan Thicke, Pat Sajak etc. (Lane was, like Dastmalchian, an American). The Screenplay references many of the cultural aspects of the U.S. in the 70s such as cults, political corruption, secret societies, conspiracies, changing lifestyles and, here specifically - a growing interest in the occult. The gimmick is that the viewer is watching a long suppressed tape of the actual TV broadcast from 1977 (the commercial breaks are cleverly covered by a documentary film crew filming it all take place).
The “guests” on the episode include a psychic named Christou (Fayassal Bazi; a definite nod to Uri Geller) and a debunker Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss; clearly patterned on the famed skeptic Amazing Randi). The main guests are June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) and Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) - a paranormal researcher and her supposedly possessed patient.The conceit of presenting the program in 'real time' (after a short pseudo-documentary intro narrated by Michael Ironside) does risk boring some of the audience - as watching any random episode of a second rate talk show from nearly 50 years ago naturally would. Still, the writing is pretty strong exhibiting a dark wit, and the performances keep it moving well enough.
For the most part, the Cairnes brothers play fair with the viewer, adhering to proper aspect ratios and allowing the viewer to only see what one would have watching it on a 19” television back in the day (the behind the scenes doc is a, mostly acceptable, cheat). One has to accept that as things go so haywire that the network wouldn't have just cut away and stopped filming. As good as Dastmalchian's performance is, it doesn't quite ring true that of all of Carson's competitors, Delroy would be his most serious rival. He just doesn't have that kind of general appeal. The movie does go a bit off the rails towards the end, not so much from a story standpoint, but as too extreme a departure from the standard the brothers themselves have set as keeping it all from one POV (also, the big reveal isn't much of one, nor is it properly set up).
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL is a solid feature. It ingeniously weaves in such reference points as ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE OMEN, THE EXORCIST (it's prime inspiration) and even a dash of Chayefsky's NETWORK. It makes for suitable late night horror film viewing itself.
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL is currently streaming on Shudder and AMC+ and for streaming rental/purchase elsewhere.
- Of all the competitors to Johnny Carson's talk show throne, none flamed out quite so ignominiously as Jack Delroy, who, on Halloween 1977, saw his career end. Delroy is, of course, a fictional character created by the Cairnes brothers, Colin and Cameron, who wrote and directed LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL. The Cairnes are Australian, but they have done their research and the movie feels authentic through and through.
Delroy (David Dastmalchian) is more based on Australian talk show host Don Lane than the likes of the actual Carson rivals such as Dick Cavett, David Frost, Alan Thicke, Pat Sajak etc. (Lane was, like Dastmalchian, an American). The Screenplay references many of the cultural aspects of the U.S. in the 70s such as cults, political corruption, secret societies, conspiracies, changing lifestyles and, here specifically - a growing interest in the occult. The gimmick is that the viewer is watching a long suppressed tape of the actual TV broadcast from 1977 (the commercial breaks are cleverly covered by a documentary film crew filming it all take place).
The “guests” on the episode include a psychic named Christou (Fayassal Bazi; a definite nod to Uri Geller) and a debunker Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss; clearly patterned on the famed skeptic Amazing Randi). The main guests are June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) and Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) - a paranormal researcher and her supposedly possessed patient.The conceit of presenting the program in 'real time' (after a short pseudo-documentary intro narrated by Michael Ironside) does risk boring some of the audience - as watching any random episode of a second rate talk show from nearly 50 years ago naturally would. Still, the writing is pretty strong exhibiting a dark wit, and the performances keep it moving well enough.
For the most part, the Cairnes brothers play fair with the viewer, adhering to proper aspect ratios and allowing the viewer to only see what one would have watching it on a 19” television back in the day (the behind the scenes doc is a, mostly acceptable, cheat). One has to accept that as things go so haywire that the network wouldn't have just cut away and stopped filming. As good as Dastmalchian's performance is, it doesn't quite ring true that of all of Carson's competitors, Delroy would be his most serious rival. He just doesn't have that kind of general appeal. The movie does go a bit off the rails towards the end, not so much from a story standpoint, but as too extreme a departure from the standard the brothers themselves have set as keeping it all from one POV (also, the big reveal isn't much of one, nor is it properly set up).
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL is a solid feature. It ingeniously weaves in such reference points as ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE OMEN, THE EXORCIST (it's prime inspiration) and even a dash of Chayefsky's NETWORK. It makes for suitable late night horror film viewing itself.
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL is currently streaming on Shudder and AMC+ and for streaming rental/purchase elsewhere.
