dir. Cameron and Colin Cairnes

During a live broadcast of 70s talkshow Night Owls, host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) promises one hell of a night. Desperate to boost ratings and save his ailing reputation he’ll do anything, even inviting on a parapsychologist (Laura Gordon) and her young ward (Ingrid Torelli), the latter of whom is allegedly possessed by a demon.

Found-footage horror has experienced a resurgence of late. Fuelled by hits like Host (2020) and Dashcam (2021) along with festival favourites Deadstream (2022) and #ChadGetsTheAxe (2022), it seems that recovered recordings of horrific – and frequently funny – events is back in business. In this, Late Night is not new: however by merging the frights with talkshow trappings it has created the kind of mutant baby that keeps sub-genres alive.

After a brief docu-drama intro the ‘lost’ episode of Night Owls kicks off and Delroy is immediately magnetic, exuding a kind of desperate sympathy which keeps us – and the studio audience – on side, even as things start to spiral. This is largely down to Dastmalchian, an actor who’s built an impressive résumé of supporting characters in everything from Villeneuve’s Prisoners (2013) to James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021). Here, he finally gets to showcase his leading man chops, and the result is magnificent.

What is less convincing is the consistency with which directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes follow the found-footage formula. The intro might purport to show a live broadcast plus some back-stage clips – a neat way of revealing behind-the-scenes conversations when Night Owls hits an ad break – but the aesthetic here is clearly more polished, often using a two camera setup more typically used in standard cinematic composition. Likewise some last act deviations into moments which absolutely could not have been filmed might look great, but more or less abandon the found-footage setup, ultimately to the film’s detriment.

Still, there is much to enjoy. From cleverly balancing superstition with skepticism to – much like Ghostwatch (1992) and the central talkshow sequence in Takashi Miike’s One Missed Call (2003) – weaponising the setup with a sense of escalating dread, Late Night with the Devil proves to be a cracking calling-card for all involved.

© Tim Coleman

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Late Night With The Devil is in UK cinemas now.