Late Night with the Devil

David Dastmalchian

Cameron and Colin Cairnes' Late Night with the Devil, the Australian siblings' third feature film, is a superior B film. Like their previous work, the duo mix horror and comic elements in the tale of a man who has sold his soul. In 1977, we meet Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), a late night talk show host frustrated at running behind Johnny Carson in the ratings battles. Delroy and his producer, in a desperate bid for viewers' eyeballs, book a parapsychologist and an allegedly possessed girl. What could possibly go wrong?

Ultimately, I did not find Late Night with the Devil especially frightening or unsettling. It is tightly wound mechanism that does not seek to make a lofty statement unless warning viewers not to make a deal with the devil constitutes one at this late date. Perhaps I have seen too many B horror films to be scared by one, but the dénouement of this film was so predictable that there was little suspense for me. However, the very predictability of a B genre film, be it a musical, comedy or horror film, is comforting to the audience. The Cairnes brothers know this and don't mess with the formula.

However, they inject the film with enough satiric glee, mostly poking fun at America in the 1970s and the talk show format, that I was thoroughly entertained throughout. The film begins with a montage of documentary footage of turmoil in the USA during the late 60s and early 70s. This leads to a montage of Delroy's career rise, one which is stifled by the dominance of Carson. I was stunned by how well the Australian duo portrayed the pop culture milieu of 1977. Leisure suits, bad haircuts, Billy Carter jokes, and earth tones are present and accounted for. The brothers also capture the print media of the era with glimpses of (doctored) covers of Newsweek. The Hollywood Reporter, and Mad. I was also impressed with the verisimilitude of the talk show within the film. . The rhythms and rituals of the era are impressively rendered. Then as now, most guests were stars pushing their latest product. Carson would do his famous monologue and skits. Also, the occasional animal act with the San Diego Zoo's Joan Embery, which Late Night with the Devil tips its cap to. Carson's competitors, chiefly Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, and Joey Bishop, would often book more outlandish guests which Carson derided. The film features characters which call to mind Kreskin and Anton Lavey, both talk show mainstays of that period. 

The films effectively plays with different film stocks and ratios. The first shot of the film is of a television set and, after the introduction, the found "tape" of the fatal show is presented in a box format. This is intercut with "backstage" footage in widescreen black and white. The Cairnes parody trendy effects, like split screens and picture within picture, that were popularly used at the time. They won't be awarding statues to the Cairnes at next years' Oscar night, but the technical mastery displayed in Late Night with the Devil should give them a bigger budget next time. The cast is superb, particularly Mr. Dastmalchian, but also Ingrid Torelli, Laura Gordon, Fayssal Bazzi, and Ian Bliss. Michael Ironside's narration is exemplary, at once sober and ironic.

For those who enjoyed Late Night with the Devil, I would recommend the Cairnes brothers' first feature which is currently streaming on Tubi. 100 Bloody Acres, released in America in 2013, is a rural Australian Gothic with lots of gore. The film is very competent for a debut feature and boasts a strong cast, especially lead Damon Herriman.