Late Night with the Devil

L'excellent acteur de rôles secondaires David Dastmalchian se démarque cette fois dans le rôle principal d'animateur d'une émission de talk-show nocturne, dont le spécial Halloween de 1977 est interrompu par un sinistre individu non invité. Le film entier est présenté comme un enregistrement récemment découvert de l'épisode fatidique, où entre des blagues forcées, des performances de variétés et des sensations artificiellement créées, un fil de frissons inquiétants et de tension s'infiltre progressivement, s'intensifiant minute après minute jusqu'à un final surprenant. Vient à l'esprit la pépite culte britannique Ghostwatch, également située dans un studio de télévision, laquelle misait surtout sur l'authenticité. Late Night with the Devil vise moins la représentation authentique, et au contraire, en déviant du format, rappelle au spectateur qu'il s'agit avant tout d'un film narratif – et assez impressionnant. Sur toute la durée, on se rend très bien compte que quelque chose d'effrayant va arriver. Et quand ça arrive, ça vaut le coup ! [Sitges 2023] (14/10/2023)

Late Night with the Devil est un bon petit amuse-gueule cinématographique au concept original – le film est comme l’enregistrement d’un épisode de talk-show des années 1970 dans lequel des phénomènes paranormaux commencent à se produire. Et les choses tournent très mal. Un excellent David Dastmalchian joue le rôle de l’animateur du talk show et les personnages secondaires sont bien distribués. Il y a un sentiment d’authenticité et de beaux effets visuels. Les moments d’horreur se font attendre, mais ils sont impressionnants. Les téléspectateurs qui croient vraiment au paranormal, c’est-à-dire qu’il ne s’agit pas seulement pour eux d’un motif cinématographique attrayant, les apprécieront. Je regrette cependant que le scénario n’ait pas davantage développé les thèmes de la femme décédée et de la forêt aux grands arbres. Ils auraient pu enrichir le film sur le plan du contenu. [Festival du film de Sitges] (08/10/2023)

Damn, I was almost sure I'd be more excited. After watching it, the hype bubble burst pretty loudly. The grit of the film is a pastiche of 70's TV shows, with a retro atmosphere that feels authentic. I was hoping it would realistically work as a horror film, but unfortunately, there's only a trace amount of horror. Plot-wise, the film doesn't surprise much, especially considering the few opening minutes of explanation. And for me, it kind of incomprehensibly and bizarrely fails to even stick to its concept, dropping out a couple of times. As a result, I find Late Night with the Devil to be at most an enjoyable, noteworthy little genre flick. Not a major work by any means. (20/04/2024)

It's not a groundbreaking horror film that is shockingly violent or scary, but it gets points for its original concept (and they say it’s not possible!) and for being different, definitely a film that can't be compared to anything else. The film manages to win the viewer over from the beginning with an artificially contrived Talk Show that is simply fun, and once it gets into the horror gear, it’s fine too. I liked the faithful 70's retro feel, the performances from everyone involved (Dastmalchian shines for perhaps the first time) and the decent atmosphere. Surprisingly, it's also decently brutal at the end, and there's an interesting twist. So even though it's not a genre film that should be attacking the top rungs of the horror charts, it's definitely something that should be supported for being fresh and different. Paranormal a little different. 75%. (20/04/2024)

The mass hypnosis obviously worked, but that’s not surprising, because in the usual slim pickings of genre festival programmes, viewers willingly let themselves be deluded by anything with a hint of distinctiveness or an atypical approach. With a clear head, however, the whole film’s shortcomings are readily apparent. We can hope that Late Night with the Devil started out as an ambitious project that, however, was taken out of the filmmakers hands by the producers, who told them that they had to add an explanatory introduction so that even the dullest viewers would understand what they were watching, but it unfortunately also tells them how everything will unfold. Through numerous clues, however, it becomes apparent that the creative duo behind the film are exceedingly lackadaisical in terms of screenwriting, so they slavishly incorporate everything that is literally said in the introduction into the narrative in a way that’s anything but organic. That this can actually be done right is demonstrated by Amanda Kramer’s virtually identical Give Me Pity! from a year prior, which not only manages to stick with the chosen concept of a television show, but also abounds with real inventiveness and captivating creativity despite the low-cost production. By comparison, Late Night with the Devil comes across as a desperately limp knock-off that’s unable to replicate an identical concept, let alone fulfil it, and can thus only pretend to be unique while actually being just another run-of-the-mill trash flick. (15/02/2024)