In 2023, Late Night with the Devil was quietly building its momentum bumping around the festival circuit at the same time Talk to Me was gobbling most of the indie horror conversation. But IFC’s patient marketing strategy paid off and in the spring of 2024 when Late Night with the Devil was given a proper North American theatrical run before launching as a Shudder exclusive. 

And kudos to the curators of Shudder for adding 1992’s Ghostwatch to their catalog the month prior to their debut of Late Night with the Devil. After all, how many other great horror films exist out there that are made to look like a single episode of a live television broadcast? From now on, these two films are likely to be discussed as a pair despite being seperate IPs that were released over thirty years apart.

Of course, in the thirty years between the two films the impact found footage horror has on the public has changed. When Ghostwatch first aired on BBC1, a small segment of the viewing audience actually believed the show was real and it ended up causing a minor public panic. A few years later, The Blair Witch Project would successfully spread its “this is true story” falsehood to gullible viewers by creating fake websites to add to the legend. And though the majority of people viewing Ghostwatch and The Blair Witch Project understood that what they were watching was fiction, the films themselves had a look and feel that was authentic enough to make people willingly suspend their belief long enough to be thoroughly creeped out and entertained- which is why these films are still revered today. 

Nowadays, giving a found footage horror film that intense level of verisimilitude is a lot harder because any “this is real” gimmick will face skepticism right from the start and audiences have a lot more familiarity with the format. Those who choose to direct found footage horrors are usually making the choice as much to help stretch a meager budget further as they are because they want their films to appear more realistic.

However, Late Night with the Devil is a modern found footage horror that stands out because of three major departures it takes from the usual formula.

First off, its one of the few found footage horrors that truly dedicates itself to depicting a different period in time. Usually, found footage horrors simply make the claim that they have been “found” just a few years prior to their release, so next to nothing is needed to be done to make them look like they were created in the past. Even a big budget found footage film like Paranormal Activity 3– which I love by the way- didn’t put a whole lot of effort into making its footage appear as though it was actually shot in 1988- nor did it really need to. In contrast, Late Night with the Devil ambitiously drenches itself in its 70s aesthetic. Clothes, hair cuts, set pieces and people’s attitudes are all designed to feel of that time. 

Late Night with the Devil’s second deviation comes in its depiction of a live variety show in real-time. Needless to say, trying to make a cohesive horror film out of a variety show is a lot harder than horrors that depict real-time livestreams, like Deadstream or Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum or a live BBC ghost hunting show like Ghostwatch. For example, the multiple guests that turn up in an episode of a variety show are not generally connected to one another. And a variety show tends to take frequent commercial breaks. But the script for Late Night for the Devil accounts for these challenges, actually turning them into the film’s strength.

The third distinction comes from directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ deliberate decision to take creative liberties with the found footage format by emphasizing storytelling at the expense of the genre’s inherent verisimilitude. Late Night with the Devil makes choices with the found footage format that enthusiasts might find egregious, especially if they are sticklers about the genre’s conventions. For example, the commercial break segments are shown in black and white and the aspect ratio changes from 3:4 to widescreen. From a storytelling perspective, these commercial break sections are golden. For one thing, we get to see what our host, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), is actually like when the cameras are not rolling. But it also gives us a chance to see how the show’s guests and crew really feel about the increasing mayhem during the episode. (You got to love that.) But if you watch found footage and always want a logical reason for the camera to be rolling, then you’re going to have trouble with the fact that during these portions of the film, the careaman always seems to know which conversations to follow…or why any cameraman would be following any these conversations in the first place?

And if the commercial break segments irk you, just wait untill you get to the end!

Late Night with the Devil is certainly more of a pure found footage film than Cannibal Holocaust or Sinister, which are actually traditional horrors with found footage segments cut into them, but the widescreen segements, whether during the commercial segments or during the surreal conclusion, do not fully committed to this format either. But these sacrifices to authenticity add so much to the overall story that I dare say I found them kind of refreshing. And after thirty years of directors bending over backwards to make the fiction seem real, this daring, immersion-breaking shift in direction is actually one I hope more upcoming found footage filmmakers are willing to take. 

Late Night with the Devil starts with an interesting mini-documentary about the social-political landscape that helped to spawn Night Owls with Jack Delroy, Delroy’s rise as a celebrity, the shows constant ratings battle with Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show and Delroy’s eventual decline after losing his wife to cancer. This fictional revisionist history is really well done and though it serves mostly as an exposition dump, it helps set the stage for the film to come. It also gives us our only peak at what Night Owls actually looked like before the tragic Halloween episode in the midst of Delroy’s attempt at a come-back.

And I’d like to add here that David Dastmalchian deserves every bit of praise he gets for bringing Jack Delroy to life.

After, we are told by our narrator that we will now see the tragic final episode of Night Owls its entirety, including never before shown behind the scenes footage. And man, is it a treat. Jack guests include the psychic medium Christou, a former magician turned skeptic named Carmichael Haig and Lilly, the former cult survivor who is believed to be possessed by a demon. What can go wrong?

Late Night with the Devil has a ton of interesting side characters kicking about both on the show and in the background. Jack has a sidekick named Gus who has increasing reservations about what is happening. There is Lilly’s handler, parapsychologist Dr. June Ross-Mitchell, who judgement is clearly is clouded by her relationship with Jack and her own pursuit of book sales. Behind the scenes, the shows producer, Leo, keeps pushing Jack to take more risks. And then there is that dude in the audience wearing a skeleton costume whose only purpose in the film seems to be for Internet users to write fan theories about. I love that.

As for the episode of Night Owls itself, the set up for Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) is executed to perfection. And when Lilly does arrive, she does not disappoint. Totelli’s character steals every scene she’s in, playing perfectly off of Dastmalchian’s charamatic energy.

It’s pretty clear from the outset that directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes weren’t out to tell the usual demonic girl story. Lilly’s young, but she’s not a symbol of evil overpowering or corrupting innocence. Her ties to the cult make her act eerily odd even when she seems she is just being Lilly. And she seems to like having a demon inside her, playfully referring to him “Mr. Wiggles” cause he wiggles into her head. Lilly may be a lot of things, but innocent…no. 

And it’s nice to see the many little nods to Ghostwatch sprinkled into Late Night with the Devil’s story. Both center around a Halloween airing that goes awry. The name Mr. Wiggles has a similar eerie playfulness as the name Pipes. Both include a female paranormal investor that tries to base their methodology in science butting heads with a male skeptic. Lilly, our possessed child, really isn’t all that far in age from Suzanne. Both end on the suggestion that some greater evil may now have been unleashed onto the viewing audience. And I could easily keep going.

As for the gore, it’s a strange mix of practical effects and CGI designed to keep that 70s vibe alive. In Late Night with the Devil, the gore is just so fun to watch, but its not overly realistic…which is another choice the Cairnes make that breaks from traditional found footage immersion, yet in this film it works because of the period it is depicting. (Again, an intentional choice that places storytelling over found footage authenticity.) 

As for that ending, I’ll just say strap yourself in and enjoy the twists. If your a fan of Ghostwatch, then your going to enjoy watching how some of its more original story ideas get taken to the next level. 

Even with the legendary shadow of Ghostwatch looming over the preceedings, Late Night with the Devil still manages to carve its own unique space for itself. Colin and Cameron Cairnes brilliantly capitalize on the potential of their variety show format and 70 homages, making Late Night with the Devil the must-see horror of 2023. (Sorry Talk to Me. You have been supplanted.) 

Late Night with the Devil is the type of dark horror comedy that speaks to me with every fiber of its being. Its just so much fun! I usually don’t watch films more than once or twice, but I can see myself revisiting this one routinely every few years. And I can’t wait to see what future projects it might inspire.